


Echoes: Beyond the Rain

by ScarletWillow9



Series: Echoes [1]
Category: Beyond: Two Souls, Heavy Rain
Genre: ARI | Added Reality Interface (Heavy Rain), Alive Aiden, Drug Addiction, F/M, Good Cop Bad Cop, I know my ship is random, I want to make a Quantic Dream shared universe basically, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Jodie can be a mess, Jodie has some flashbacks in one chapter, Minor Character Death, Multi, My First AO3 Post, My First Fanfic, Nothing too bad but I'd still rather warn, Other, Supernatural Elements, Swearing, basically the heavy rain plot with Jodie included, from one character mostly, i don't know okay, like lots of swearing, some Detroit easter eggs in there, the character I used as an inspiration swore a lot so yeah..., trauma mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:30:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 63,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25400134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletWillow9/pseuds/ScarletWillow9
Summary: After the events of the Black Sun, Jodie Holmes seeks a new life and purpose. Somehow led to Philadelphia, she realises that her help might be needed: a serial killer is attacking children, and no one seems to be able to solve this case, which might involve more than simple murders...(Basically, if Jodie Holmes was in Heavy Rain, because I like shared universes)
Relationships: Aiden & Jodie Holmes, Ethan Mars & Shaun Mars, Ethan Mars/Madison Paige, Norman Jayden/Jodie Holmes
Series: Echoes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1839640
Kudos: 7





	1. A New Life

**Author's Note:**

> Well! Here we go, this is the first time I'm posting anything so I'm very nervous ^^'
> 
> Echoes had actually been sitting since 2013, I had wrote the first draft after Beyond Two Souls release, and decided to rework it in 2018 after the Detroit Become Human release, since I love imagining the Quantic Dream characters interact.  
> Eventually though, with the years going, I figured I'd try and post it :3 (especially now that my English is muuuch less rusty than in 2013 (I'm French))  
> Hope you enjoy the rest of the fanfic!

The rain had been falling for two months now, we could think it was the rainy season if we weren't in the United States, in the south of Pennsylvania.

 _Philadelphia_ , that’s where the last car took her.  
The cars were now driving fast without stopping before the young woman who was hitchhiking, her face was hidden by her hood and her coat, erasing her past's scars  
 _“It's her fault mom! She's the devil She’s the devil!”_  
She downed her head and walked back  
 _“I was born with a gift... or what they called a gift it’s really a curse”_  
None of the cars were stopping anyway, she was alone, and she'll remain alone…  
 _“No Aiden , I don't want to go back! I want to stay with you!”_

 _The woman suddenly woke up, her arm stitched to the usual hospital machinery. Her head had been shaved off, leaving two little scars..._ _  
__“Why did you make me come back? I didn't want to come back...”_  
She stopped at the closest motel, seeing the small neon lights appear in the fog soon as she entered, the receptionist rose a lazy head as she finally lowered her hood, revealing her brown tied up hair.  
“Name?” The receptionist asked, immediately and rightly assuming the woman wanted to book a room for the night, he handed her a paper for her to sign.  
She raised her head, facing the receptionist.  
“Jodie Holmes” She stated her name simply, but to her, every time she spoke this name, it was like she dropped down a weight, that she had broken free from a chain...  
“ _Aiden?.... Aiden?... Aiden?!...” The tears come, along with the blood from her cuts “AIDEN?!!”_ _  
__She screams, broken, falling on her knees, letting her tears drop, no one can reassure her...”_ _  
__“She had only realized now how much Aiden had meant to her, ironically and cruelly after she had_ _  
__Being separated from him, what she had wanted for her whole life, but now... She had never been so unhappy, lonely, and lost, without any purpose…”_

“Without any purpose…” she whispered, her thoughts aloud as she made her way back outside, key in hand, walking in the night 

_Alone_.

* * *

Her bedroom was really small, only containing the strict necessary: one single-person bed, a broken TV and a lamp on a small bedside table. Jodie put her bag down, on the dirty floor, it was a cheap motel after all, _what had she expected?_ She shook her numb head, the rain had made her cold so she was shivering a little, the wet clothes were not helping, the room not being really warm and humid either. Jodie switched the light on, and right after, another headache attacked her head, making her groan, she had them often since Aiden had left, she took some dry clothes and went looking in the small bathroom joint to her room, which was just as dirty. She luckily found a medicine cabinet, it was full and had what she wanted: painkillers.  
“I'm quite surprised they have this here for such a shitty motel… maybe it's for drugs-addicts” she muttered to herself, then shrugged as she took the painkillers and put them on the sink, not taking it yet, when the mirror cracked, making the woman gasp and almost drop the medicines, the light switched itself off and on again, a cold filled the bathroom… Jodie looked around her for any signs of entities in the room...But as she found none she just sighed as she began to take off her wet clothes to take an awaited warm shower…

The young woman kept turning in her bed, even as she was asleep, she began to make groaning noises as she frowned in her sleep, memories coming back to her in her slumber...

_Jodie was walking in a beautiful meadow, covered by white flowers and surrounded by blue sky, behind her was a lonely tree in the middle of the meadow. She kept walking until she finally saw him_

_"Aiden..." she muttered, though she couldn't really see him, he had a blurry face._

_“We couldn't leave each other… our souls were bonded together… I loved you and hated you for years… but you were a part of me”_

_The landscape around them started to shift into a dark cloudy one and you could hear thunder, Jodie looked at her right, the flowers were starting to fade around her, she looked at Aiden, suddenly worried._

_She stretched her arm, Aiden disappeared… leaving his sister to cry…_

Some muffled cry of her brother's name left her mouth in her sleep

**_The decor around her changed sharply, she wasn't sure of where she was anymore. Beyond? In the Infraworld? In between worlds? She only felt pulled and spun away from the meadow where her and Aiden had been, shifting into some pitch black place instead, entities flowing and laughing and screeching at the sight of her…_ **

**_Her head and body felt too dizzy as the air seemed almost heavy like thick water. She closed her eyes at all the screeches until she heard a human voice yell in panic._ **

**_Jodie opened her eyes wide, the voice sounding familiar to her even if she didn't recall ever hearing it before: she saw entities pushing and gripping at a young man's arms and legs. Jodie only had the time to catch a glimpse of the man's face, she was sure she had seen him somewhere before…_ **

**_But just as his blue eyes went wide at her sight, he got pushed by the entities into black water. Jodie tried her best to reach him but was paralyzed, she could only watch, unable to help whoever this poor soul was as he thrashed against the entities’ grips._ _  
__Finally he emerged out of the water to look directly at the woman half standing half floating before him and he screamed in pure terror_**

_**“ JODIE!!”** _

She immediately woke up at this, gasping and sitting up straight in her bed, sweating and panting. The gifted woman then only sighed, she had those kind nightmares all the time since the Black Sun's incident, even if this one was more enigmatic than the others she had had, she still did her usual routine: she got up from bed, ignoring the light emanating and flickering from the digital numbers of her alarm clock as they kept changing into letters, something she didn't notice as she left for the bathroom.

Jodie immediately grabbed the painkillers she had left on the sink and took two pills out of the tube, she swallowed them quickly, her face cringing before she leaned in the sink to drink some water to make them pass…

And she heard a screech and immediately looked up in the mirror to see an entity.

She screamed in fear and, trembling, she then turned around, but saw nothing…  
She sighed again, then splashed some water on her face, closing her eyes as she raised her head exhaling a long sigh against the mirror before slowly opening her eyes.

The mirror was completely covered in fog.

She only frowned, and raised her hand to slowly wipe it, catching glimpses not of her reflection like what should be expected, but of the same man from her nightmare…

“What the-” she interrupted herself as she saw the man's mouth mimicking exactly the same words and confused expression than her. Jodie, not sure if she was still dreaming or not, ( _did it matter anyway?)_ got closer to the mirror, prudently reaching out her hand, noticing the man on the other side was doing the exact same thing once more…

They both got closer to one another, Jodie slowly seeing more of the other person's features: his hair was a dark brown like hers, his face shape was similar to hers, and the way he moved his hand toward the transparent wall separating them, was just like hers… 

“ _Jodie...Help Me”_ slowly appeared on the mirror, letters drawing themselves in the fog. She looked down, tearing her brown eyes away from the man's bright blue eyes, the only difference they had, but she could still sense some familiarity in them… She read the letters, the message as she finally realized who this man was, and rose her head, tears making their way to her eyes as she gasped.

“Aiden…” She whispered.

And of course… Aiden, being her twin, another part of her soul,mimicked the same tears. This time however his mouth moved but Jodie heard no sound come of it, as she didn't react, Aiden yelled louder, beginning to tap against the mirror frenetically. Jodie panicked as she put her two hands on the mirror, tapping on it as well.

“Aiden what's happening?!” She made a frustrated yell as she still couldn't hear what he was saying, the two kept slamming their hands on the mirror so strongly it was a miracle it wasn't broken and shattered in pieces of glass already.

Suddenly though, Aiden stopped all movement as he looked around him, Jodie's eyes were already wide and bloodshot out of tears and fear, and as Aiden looked back at her, a terrified expression on his face, she began trembling.  
And Aiden was suddenly pulled away by some invisible force, and disappeared from Jodie's sight as she screamed his name.

She slammed and slammed the mirror again, calling his name again and again, she had lost her brother _twice_ , she refused to lose him again.

“LET ME HELP HIM!!!” She eventually screamed as the mirror had begun to crack and finally, she felt herself being pulled in it…

She was again in the same nightmarish and horrific place than earlier, the air feeling heavy, and the entities screaming around her…

And pulling and tormenting Aiden.

Jodie could feel his fear and the pain in his lungs being filled by this black water, she could feel the entities grasp on his legs and arms…

She looked down and saw the ethereal violet cord of light that had always linked them before, it was back, right on the area of her belly.

Jodie Holmes didn't scream this time as she used the unusually solid cord to pull her closer to Aiden, to those _monsters_ torturing her brother.

As she reached them, the entities screamed and let go of Aiden immediately, dropping him in the water, now trying to push the twin sister to join him in this thick black liquid…

As she fought away their grasps, she made out Aiden's shape and immediately reached for him as she pulled him up sharply and she then heard something that sounded like a miracle to her:

He took a harsh intake of _breath_.

She embraced him tightly, not letting anyone tear them apart again, he did the same, the two souls refusing to be separated…

The cord began to glow brighter and brighter, destroying the entities around them...

Jodie Holmes woke up gasping, in her bed…

_Again…_

“No... _No...Please not again”_ She begged tearfully as she sat up out of bed, already half sobbing as she was now convinced it had all just been a cruel dream.

She looked at the ceiling, looking for her entity-brother, like she used to. She didn't see _anything._

Her tears fell freely this time

Until she heard a whisper, a whisper she would never forget:

“J-Jodie?”

She hesitantly turned her eyes to the floor before the bed as she saw _Aiden_ , human, on the floor... **Alive.**

“Aiden...” the woman whispered with emotion, Aiden was back, Aiden was _alive_ …

The now-human Aiden blinked a couple of times, his eyes having never been really used before, he felt and touched the floor under him, it was a new sensation for him, touching, feeling...All he could do before, being an entity was seeing through a veil, hearing and in some way touching; but it was different, when he was an entity he didn't feel anything, it was like touching air, feeling nothing, no warmth, no sensations of comfort…

Only coldness

He looked at his hands, not so big, then rose slowly, clumsily, he used to float in the air before, he never had to _walk_ , he never had to. He eventually managed to rise up and be steady enough to look around him.

And lay his eyes on his sister, _Jodie_ , who had tears in her eyes, he realized she could finally see him, and that he could finally touch her and hold her in his arms, at this thought his eyes began to tear out as well. 

“Jodie!” He beamed,

“Aiden!” Jodie blurted quickly, realizing this was _real_ , before running in her brother's arms, both of them wetting the other's shoulders….

“What-what happened?” Jodie whispered “What were they doing to you?”

“I...I can't remember” Aiden replied, surprised at his own deep voice… “Does it matter?” He tried a small teary smile, Jodie chuckled a quick “no” and pulled away to look at him.

“You're alive” She was holding his face between her hands “Aiden you're _alive”_ She teared up again as she hugged him, he smiled but still asked, confused and overwhelmed at this whole situation.

“Jodie what am I doing here?” asked Aiden with a quiet voice. 

“I-I...I don't know...but we won't complain...right?” Jodie had doubts, she had seen _Beyond_ , it was beautiful and peaceful... and herself had been tempted to stay there and leave this world for good, maybe Aiden didn't want to stay here, he had been “linked” to her enough time to see how awful and violent this world was... 

”Yeah” Aiden cut her thoughts and her doubts with nothing more than a small word and an impish smile, she pulled away and widened her eyes, finally noticing a problematic _detail_. She chuckled, which made her brother grown:

“You're naked Aiden you know that?” He looked at himself, widening his eyes.

“How did you want me to buy clothes where I was?!” The twins laughed together before Jodie said in a teasing tone:

“I'll see if I can find some opened shop in the street, stay here” She was about to leave and take her backpack, but she realized:

“Do...Do you think our “bond” is still there? If I go too far from you....”

“I don't know, only one way to find out...” Aiden gave her as an only reply as he put himself in the bed, in case someone came in, still processing everything that was happening, Jodie only nodded and opened the door, leaving in the hallway, then realizing she could leave without causing pain for both her and Aiden, she looked back.

“You...Stay here, okay? I won't be long” Jodie muttered to Aiden, 

“Where do you want me to go dressed like that anyway?” Jodie laughed, Aiden wasn't just only an overprotective entity anymore, he was her brother, with the same humor as her it seemed. He really had grown alongside her this whole time.

And now he was alive.

* * *

She left the motel and walked for about 10 minutes before finding a little shop, she threw a quick look at the window, hoping there were clothes because she was tired and sick of walking, she had only done that for a whole week, going from motel to motel, making her way to Philadelphia, she sensed that something was “calling her” there, maybe entities were regrouping, or maybe she needed to be there for Aiden to come back…

But why _Philadelphia?_

She stopped overthinking, maybe Philadelphia would again only be a small stop, and she would continue wandering, with Aiden by her side... 

The thought put a small smile on her face as she entered, a bell ringing as she opened the door, the owner looked at her and fainted a little smile.

“Hello” he had a foreign accent but Jodie couldn't really tell from where it could come from, she smiled and just said a small “hi” before walking towards the clothes section, which was really small, due to the shop's size itself, she took the first things she saw, Aiden didn't have any favorite style after all, at least for now, and he better _not complain anyway, she had been walking in the rain at almost three AM just for him_ , she did a small eye roll as she imagined him throwing a tantrum, would he do like when he was an entity and break everything around him?...She realized how weird this situation was, dressing her brother who always had been an entity, some kind of fog, of light, never she would have imagined this entity with Aiden's now human face and hair, and her memories of the Black Sun had almost all fluttered away from her mind...Either way, she finished her “shopping” and went to pay, the owner remained kind to her, but his eyes held sadness in them, just like Stan had looked...Stan...Maybe she could call him...No more wandering, she could maybe go live there with Aiden, Walter, Tuesday, Jimmy...and little Zoey...

_“You're a miracle Jodie, our miracle”_

_But I don't want to be a burden to them..._

“I guess these clothes aren't for you?

“Huh?”

“Those are man clothes, are they for your boyfriend?” _Boyfriend_? Jodie scoffed

“I I'm sorry miss, I shouldn't ask such invasive questions”

“No, that's fine” She smiled again at the salesman's apologetic face “They're for my brother”

“Ah! I see! Forgive me still for my invasiveness, I often get rather bored during the late opening hours so forgive me” He smiled as he began to calculate the price for the clothes, and some food she had grabbed as well.

“That's okay, I tend to be a little nosey myself sometimes” She still smiled at the kind man, even if he had, inadvertently of course, reminded her of her loneliness… All her attempts at normal romances had failed, whether it be in her adolescence, or when she had met _Ryan Clayton_ …

_“You're special Jodie, Aiden's got nothing to do with that”_

_“You lied to me…”_

_“What are you talking about?” the man before her just sat nonchalantly, while Jodie was burning with rage internally._

_“Gemaal wasn't a warlord… He was the president...he was the democratically elected president”_

_“Your point? We're not politicians we had our orders” Clayton told her matter of factly_

_“You_ **_knew_ ** _I wouldn't have murdered him…” Jodie didn't care about orders or what those god damn CIA directors had decided, she had trusted Ryan, with almost everything… And now he was admitting he had manipulated her without a care in the world_

 _“So you_ **_lied to me!_ ** _” The helicopter began to shake, Jodie knew perfectly well why, so did Clayton_

_“ Welcome to the CIA Jodie!It's not fucking choir practice in case you haven't noticed now we had a job to and we did it. End of story!”_

_“This might be just a fucking job to you? But I don't go around killing people cause some four-fucking star General tells me to!!” She was yelling now, as the helicopter kept losing control and shook violently._

_“ Jodie listen-”_

_“You_ **_manipulated me! You used me to do your dirty work!”_ **

_“What difference does it make?! He was a dead man walking with or without your help!”_

_“_ **_I HAVE BLOOD ON MY HANDS!!!”_ ** _Jodie screamed as the lights began to flicker and the alarm system kept beeping “Some kid lost his father because of me!! Because I_ **_trusted you!_ ** _Because you told me we were doing the right thing!!” She kept yelling while Ryan was at loss of words “What am I to you Ryan? A_ **_toy?! Some fucking puppet you can just do whatever you want with?!”_ **

_“For God's sake Jodie you're gonna kill us!” He tried to evade the subject, but now Jodie saw everything clear_

_“No one's gonna ever lie to me again Ryan”_

_And with she jumped off the helicopter, knowing Aiden would help her and ignoring the pleading scream of Ryan fucking Clayton._

_She planned on holding to her words, no one would ever lie or use her again..._

The bell at the door rang once again, snapping her out her memories, a corpulent and not so old man entered, he was probably in his late forties, he was wearing a long brown coat and a red tie, he didn't have much hair, and his eyes held some kindness, despite their cold aspect. “Can I help you sir?” asked the shop owner who looked at this man at the same time than Jodie did.

“Well I hope so, my name's Scott Shelby, I'm a private detective, I'm investigating the case of the Origami Killer, I'd like to ask you a few questions." 

_The Origami Killer?_ Jodie had heard about this, it was this serial killer who killed children, leaving origamis with the bodies, she had been thinking about helping on this case but didn't know how, she didn't want to get involved with any law enforcement agencies again, so she was still wondering how she could help, as maybe her gifts could help, the killings had been happening for two years, she couldn't just stand by and watch children die…

It seemed like her “lucky day” however, maybe she could learn something from this Shelby.

"I'd like to ask you a few questions" The seller downed his look, seemingly remembering things he wanted to keep buried in his mind.

"My son is dead, Mr Shelby"The man eventually said with a trembling voice “I have nothing more to say"

“I've lost someone I love too-” Shelby tried a sympathetic smile but only got a harsh reply 

“ Then you'll understand why I do not wish to talk about it-”

“The killer has kidnapped another victim" The detective refused to give up however and insisted "A ten-year old boy, like your son Reza, I have four days before we find his body on a deserted stretch of wasteland. And maybe, just maybe, you know something that could help me save this child”

“I was unable to save my son's life, how could I save others?”

A silence fell in the room as Scott Shelby gave a quick look at Jodie, who just moved her head away.  
“...Now, could you please move along, sir, as you can see this young lady is waiting to pay for her items" 

Scott Shelby moved for the exit, defeated, but he turned his head one last time 

"Oh do you sell inhalers?" _Asthmatic_ easily guessed Jodie. "I'm all out and at least I won't go away completely empty handed”

“In the back of the store, to the right”

“Thanks" Shelby started his walk toward the back, Jodie paid for Aiden's clothes quietly 

"I'm sorry..." she muttered

“For what?” 

“For your son...”

“...Thank you" The salesman muttered, Jodie just took the clothes in her bag, trying a small sympathetic smile, and she was about to leave when someone else entered again, he seemed younger this time, and was dressed in all black, and something about him made Jodie feel a little on nerves. 

"Good evening sir" The man seemed nervous and was holding onto something in his pocket… A flash in Jodie's mind made her want to gasp and warn the salesman...

"Are you looking for something in particular?

“Gimme what you got in the register!" he yelled, aiming his gun at the salesman.

_Too late_

The man held his hands up in panic as Jodie slowly raised her hands as well...  
"Don't fucking try anything, both of you! Open the register dumb fuck and put the money on the counter!" Jodie turned her head when she heard a crack of chips, Scott Shelby had been about to help them, but, to their chagrin, had gotten noticed.

"Hey you!! Come here! I said come here now!! Don't move! Hands up! Put your fucking hands up or I'll shoot!" The trio was doing as they were told, Jodie getting more and more panicked, even more when the bell at the door rang again, the robber turned his head, not moving his hand.

“You! Hands up! Next to the others!"

“No" The deep voice was stern.

It was Aiden, quickly dressed up in some baggy clothes he had managed to find, and ready to help Jodie, _he had felt her panic_ ... _And she could feel his anger_

_One world or another, their bound remained it seemed._

"You wanna die is that it?! Hands up! Or I'll fucking shoot!” He aimed the gun at Aiden.

“Aiden!" screamed Jodie scared for her brother

The robber looked at her quickly: 

"I see, your girlfriend called for help! Well go next to her!! or I shoot!" he said aiming his gun forward, Aiden looked at his sister _and reluctantly_ moved next to her, raising his hands to his head, although the former entity only wanted one thing: _for this crazy fucker to back away from his sister._

"Don't panic, let's just stay calm" said Scott Shelby, seemingly knowing what he was doing as he spoke calmly "Nobody here wants to hurt you, we're all gonna be cool and everything will be fine”

“Yeah...Yeah I'm cool man” The robber was sweating under his beanie...

“My name's Scott, what about you, what's your name?” The investigator still talked nonchalantly, Jodie was beginning to worry...

“Andrew...My name's Andrew”

“You don't really want to shoot anybody, do you? I'm sure we can find a way out of this mess right? Do you have anyone you care for in your life? A girlfriend maybe? A family?”

“Yeah...a little girl, I got a little girl, her name's Jessica” Now Jodie was figuring out the private eye's plan, he was good at his job it seemed...

“What would Jessica think if she saw you here? What would happen to her if things go wrong?”

The man, “Andrew” seemed to hesitate at this ...Jodie was about to put her hands back down

“...How about you just shut up? I need this money!" Andrew screamed, shooting at Scott's shoulder who grunted, Jodie held her hand on his wound, not noticing the faint green light coming from it...

“You don't fucking get it!” He spat, aiming his gun at Jodie.

"She'll be next if you don't give me the fucking money!" 

Aiden charged into him, without even thinking, he needed to save his sister, he made Andrew fall on the floor along with him.

"Aiden no!" Her brother didn't listen to her and hit Andrew repeatedly, staring at him with a red look, _a literal red look , his eyes were a shining red_ , the robber seemed to slowly suffocate, despite not having any hands choking him, nor anything in his throat.  
 _How?_ Jodie wondered as she froze witnessing the lights of the store flickering…

 _Could Aiden still...?_  
Andrew managed to gain enough strength back to punch Aiden away, who fell off, cutting his arm on some kind of broken piece of glass "Aiden!" screamed his sister, first of worry, then of anger, the lights of the shop were starting to flash brightly and the windows were shattering, Scott Shelby, Hassan (the salesman) and Andrew looked around them, before Scott, realizing that Andrew was completely confused, knocked him out with a bottle. Jodie ran toward Aiden, who rose up:

"Aiden?”

“So this is what pain feels like..." Aiden said holding his own arm, half chuckling “Ow…”

Jodie just looked at him with sorry eyes 

"It's okay Aiden, it's okay..." 

Shelby looked at them with a confused frown, but Hassan interrupted him:

"A thousand thank yous, sir, I don't know what would have happened if you had not been here.”

“Well at least I didn't come by for nothing, have a nice day” The man was on his way, until Hassan spoke up again

“When my boy Reza disappeared, I received a letter with a locker ticket inside, inside the locker I found this box" He handed him a shoe box...

"I don't understand what it means, but I think it must be a sort of message from the man who took my son from me" Scott looked interested anyway, even if it was a simple shoe box.

"Can I?" Scott opened it as soon as the other man nodded...he looked and took a small origami figure out, examining it.

"Please, take the box, if it can be any use to you at all, it did not help me to save Reza, but maybe it will help you find the other little boy" Shelby took the box, giving a thankful smile to the humble salesman and made his way once again to the exit.

"Mr Shelby!" Hassan called, the latter turned his head

"I was beginning to think that there was no good to be found in this place...But I can see now that I was wrong.” The salesman also gave a kind look at the Holmes twins then back at Scott Shelby who addressed him a smile before leaving.

“Aiden, give me a minute!”

“What-” he didn't have time to finish his sentence as Jodie ran after the detective, Aiden following her promptly, despite what she told him. Both of them getting soaked in the rain.

“Wait!” she yelled, Shelby turned to face her “What's the...this story, the Origami Killer?”

**_The Origami Killer strikes again, a seventh_ _victim found with an origami in the hand_**

“You mustn't be following the news do you?”

“I know some stuff on this, but not much...” The private investigator eyed her suspiciously, before shaking his head slightly, there was no harm informing a young woman.

“He's a serial killer, he kidnaps little boys aged between seven and thirteen years old, he drowns them in rainwater, leaving their bodies on wastelands with an orchid on their chest and an origami in their hands, there are seven victims already, the eighth, Shaun Mars just got kidnapped...”

“...And no one has any clue? Where the boy is or who that piece of shit could be?”

“No but if you wanna be sure, you could always try at the precinct, with some luck, they'll give you answers” Jodie looked down and pondered about this idea: she had been a fugitive a long time, almost every law enforcement forces had been after her, and even if she knew the CIA had officially stated she was no longer a wanted criminal, she distrusted any law enforcement, whether it be the CIA or police, but the police station was probably going to be the only place she'd learn something, and ironically, the only place where maybe she could find a purpose again...

“Thanks Mr Shelby...” She eventually spoke

“You're welcome” He gave her a kind smile before addressing Aiden “Ah and sir?” the young man looked at him:

“It's cold here, with this rain, you need more than a simple jacket” Scott smiled and left, Jodie at least knew where to go now...

“Why does _this_ interest you so much?” asked Aiden, for the first in their “lives”, he didn't know what his sister was thinking about, Jodie looked at him “Aiden, I need to do something, I can't keep going around in circles for the rest of my life, I can't just keep wandering like this, I wanna be useful, I want this _gift_ to be useful and help people, rather than kill...” She looked down, bad memories re surging...Aiden put his hands on her shoulders.

“I'll remain at your side either way, as always” Aiden gave her a fond smile, those two were still bound, no matter if it was by an ethereal cord or not, the twins hugged.


	2. "Agent Norman Jayden, FBI"

_Some days earlier, Washington D.C_

_FBI Center_

_A man was sitting at what seemed to be his desk, he was going through files and folders, the man eventually stopped again at the same folder, which bore only a name: Jodie Holmes. Some form of inquiry made its way to the FBI agent's mind as he scratched his left cheek ,where a scar was, small but quite noticeable. You could read on his door “Norman Jayden”, he put back his folders in his desk drawers and then rose up, the folder still in hand as he had opened it, he began to read through the whole paper, analyzing the, to his surprise, sparse information contained, his eyes lingered a little on the picture associated with the, at least to his coworkers, infamous Jodie Holmes..._

_He heard a sound and quickly raised his head to see his coffee cup knocked over, he rolled his eyes and muttered a “shit” before putting his cup back, but now it was his computer screen glitching, he punched the machine, and the screen switched itself off. The agent was getting confused, did the ARI mess up with his screen? Or the FBI gave him “shitty” work material? He looked around him, then heard some kind of roar before the door slammed itself opened, he gasped, dropping the folder on the floor and getting his gun, aiming it in front of his potential attacker...And all he saw was a black fog, with two red lights in the middle, like two eyes, he blinked once or twice, it could be another hallucination. Jayden suffered from hallucinations due to his overuse of the Added Reality Interface, an experimental equipment the FBI used, or maybe it was due to... “Again this goddamn Triptocaine” he thought out loud to himself, he walked toward the door to close it when he fell off, the fog had made him fall and was staring at him with its two red orbs, screeching, Jayden gasped in fear and kicked it, in vain. He eventually managed to kick it away and rose up quickly and ran toward the door, to see another of these beings. He avoided it and ran toward the hallway, bumping into one of his colleagues “Norman?! What's wrong?_

_“There were, there were...” He was slowly getting both his breath and composure back “No, nothin', must have been overusing the ARI” he said with a heavy Bostonian accent, reassuring more himself than his colleague,_

_“If you say so Norman...Anyway, we have a case for you” He gave the profiler a folder “Origami Killer” it said on the cover, Norman opened it, and read it with an interested look...”_

* * *

The agent shakily closed the door of his “office”, which to him was _really more like a big cupboard to him, sure he had wanted a quiet place to work and it certainly looks like he had gotten it_ . Norman Jayden eventually noticed his still shaky hand, despite having taken his “ _medicine_ ”, Triptocaine, the only thing counterbalancing the harmful effects his tool of work had on him: the (in)famous Added Reality Interface, even if in Jayden's case, _it was more often just reality, rather than added…_

He took a firm grasp of his hand, hoping it would be enough to hide and quiet the shaking as he began to make his way to the entrance of the Philadelphia precinct, and for him, it seemed already like a long way, despite the agent having been here only for a day.

But so much had happened already: He had looked in every single data and files the FBI had given him access to about the Origami Killer, the man had already killed seven children, a hundred of suspects had already been interrogated.

And _yet there was still nothing to go on, no lead, no traces nor mistakes the killer could have made…_

The killer had also, at least quite possibly, made another victim, the boy, Shaun Mars, had been reported missing earlier in the evening by his father, Ethan Mars, and while it was likely the origami killer again, Norman still refused to run out the possibility of the young boy having just ran away after what Mr Mars had said about his home life and his sensitive personality.

But of course the director of the Philadelphia police forces, Leighton Perry, had wasted no time in calling the press to tell them all about the “Origami Killer's newest and eighth victim”, this had only reinforced Norman's disgust of his temporary coworkers, and if he were more honest with himself, of the world itself…

That's why he was currently being eyed with so much disdain by the other cops in the precinct, the man was very reserved and had almost never left his office since he had arrived. And of course, add the usual envy or annoyance the police experiences when the FBI meddle with _their_ investigation, although to Norman, this was the complete opposite, almost every policeman in this precinct was incompetent to say the least.

“We can't tell this information to any chick who comes here! You and your friend, leave!” He heard one cop bark near the entrance, he was yelling and sending off a brown haired woman, whom the agent was sure he had seen before, and a man who matched her hair in color. Norman Jayden frowned a little at this while the woman only rose her arms in defeat as she left the precinct

“Son of a bitch” She muttered, the policeman had obviously heard her since he threw her a glare, but he still let it pass as he headed back to where Lieutenant Carter Blake was. The FBI profiler rolled his eyes at the sight, Lieutenant Blake was almost like a “king” in this precinct, every cop seemed to worship him, even his own superior, Perry. The unpleasant and unprofessional man had already butted heads with the profiler Jayden, both of them being so different in both their methods and ideals. Norman just kept walking as he felt more and more uneasy, feeling every pair of eyes of the precinct on him, he wasn't sure if this was his own problems and vision doing this or if this was truly the case, either way he strode faster away, leaving the precinct to finally get to his car, where, once inside it, he exhaled in relief. To Jayden's surprise he realized he wasn't alone in the parking, despite it being almost empty, through his car windshield, he noticed the same two people from earlier, his confused frown came back as he stared more closely at the woman,now able to see her face…

_Where the hell had he seen her before?_

The woman was stumping away, her brother walking alongside her, no one wanted to tell her anything, Jodie already hated precincts, she hated getting insulted and being unable to reach her goal even more, she needed to work on this case! She needed to prove she could do something to _save_ people rather than hurt them! Fuming, and desperate for information, she began to exclaim in frustration:

“We can't just let them treat us like fucking dirt!”

“Look Jodie they're probably not even allowed to tell us anything-”

“I don't give _a damn!_ I need to _help_ Aiden! In any way I can!”

“And what do you plan on doing huh?! In case it hasn't already sunken in, no one in this fucking town will be willing to help two random wanderers Jodie!” Aiden yelled, then immediately sighed and closed his eyes at his anger, being almost wrathful had always been in his nature, but never to his twin sister.

“I'm sorry sis” Jodie didn't like to admit it, but hearing Aiden calling her “sis” had warmed her heart, and so she forgave him, _this time_.

“No...you're right...Guess we'll have to deal with this matter alone-” She had barely finished her sentence as the twins turned their heads at a voice:

“Excuse me?” A man with slightly disheveled hair and a gray suit called after them, approaching. The twins exchanged a small look, _did he come from the precinct? Was he a cop? He didn't look like one and, frankly, he seemed way too polite to be one,_ Jodie thought.

“ Yes ?”

“You're Jodie Holmes, right?”

Jodie froze and her eyes widened slightly at being recognized, Aiden immediately grimaced, wary of this unknown man, last time he had left Jodie alone, it had ended badly, _and that had been barely an hour ago_.

Jodie had noticed Hassan's accent, but this guy's accent was even more noticeable...She found it interesting and a bit funny though, it seemed to calm her down a little…

“...Depends, who's asking?” Jodie gave for an only answer, throwing a confused look at the man because she had absolutely no memory of him, and she was worried...How did he recognize her? How did he know who she was?

The man before them began to look in his jacket pockets, his hands a bit clumsy, and the twins exchanged yet another confused look, before the man held out a FBI badge:

“Agent Norman Jayden, FBI” Jodie almost rolled her eyes and her jaw clenched, _of course_ , _it was clearer now as to why he knew her, FBI, CIA...To her it made no difference, she had been hunted and called a criminal by all of them._

_“They used me! To kill those people...I didn't know, I didn't know I was just doing what I was told!”_

_“Tell them to leave me the fuck alone, because next time, I'll kill everyone”_

“You're known at the FBI Miss Holmes” Norman had put back his badge in his jacket, seeing her expression, he figured he had been right, however he could see how tense she was which was even more evident in her answer

“I did everything I had to do to gain my freedom, I've got nothing to do with the CIA anymore” Jodie glared, not bothering to hide the venom in her voice.

“I wasn't threatening you, you're uh admired at our offices” He buffered at the end, Jayden had been really interested about her case...Despite all the damage she had done, he knew too much about how the CIA (or any law enforcement forces) could use you and twist you...so as soon as all charges had cleared about her, he came to admire the confidence she had shown at every turn, despite her being a former criminal.

Jodie's eyes widened a little, but she still chose to ignore this “compliment”, the CIA was only a bunch of psychopathic assholes to her, the FBI were probably no better, but this man...she could _sense_ that he was more than “just your submissive average agent” and _maybe_ , just _maybe_ , he could help her.

“Whatever...I'm just here to get information and answers, agent Jayden.”

“Perhaps I can help, answers about what?” He was surprised at how stammering his own voice had gotten, something the other man with Jodie Holmes had visibly noticed as Aiden's frown almost had turned into a small laugh. 

“The Origami Killer” Jodie's voice replied simply, Jayden froze, what he knew of Jodie Holmes let him wonder why she wanted this kind of information, was the CIA going to help? How?..No that didn't make sense, she was a **former** agent

“Why would a former CIA operative want to know this?”

She hesitated, but still, the agent's calm voice and posture put her at ease, and so she opted for the truth

“I've been wandering for too long, I'm sick, I want to be useful, to help people... what can you tell me then?” Jodie's voice was lower, quieter, this FBI agent seemed to be the only one who wouldn't send her off, she hoped he was going to answer her questions though...

“You know that I shouldn't give you any information about this right?” Jodie rolled her eyes:

“Please! I'm an ex CIA agent after all and-”

“Let me finish” He cut her off gently “We've been chasing the Origami Killer for two years so I guess any help is welcomed” Jodie frowned slightly, then did a small scoff:

“Not really this police guy told me to leave and that they couldn't say this to “any chick who comes here”

“Well **I** welcome your help” Jodie's features softened even more at this despite her confusion still being present “I'm sure you'd be a great aid and the opportunity to work with a former CIA operative, especially you Miss Holmes, seems to be...interesting” He brought his hands close to his face and crossed his fingers, like to hide any traces of emotion that could have been on his face, Jodie couldn't help a little smirk “Do you know his modus operandi?” The agent eventually asked her.

“I know he kidnaps little boys, he drowns them in rainwater, and leaves their bodies on wastelands with an origami in their hands and an orchid on their chest”

“Exactly” Norman Jayden stammered a little again, surprised by her knowledge of this case “So you-" He began, but cut himself off, looking in another direction, the Holmes twins followed his gaze as the three saw the police lieutenant, Carter Blake, Jayden's "forced" partner on this investigation, the latter was staring at them with clear disdain

"We should move" the profiler put his hand on the ex-CIA agent's back, about to guide her into his car, she pulled it away with a quick move.  
“What is it?” She asked annoyed, getting closer to Aiden.

“I don't like the way that guy looks at us, sis” Aiden uttered, still glaring at Blake.

_“Sis” ? No siblings had been in Jodie Holmes’ folder_

“...Are you...?”

“Twins" Jodie replied quickly “His name is Aiden” Aiden's head snapped back to look at his sister then at Jayden who only shook his head a little bit before trying a small smile, and holding out his hand to shake Aiden's one, which he did, still not talking, however, like his sister, he could _sense_ that _whoever this guy was, he didn't seem harmful_.

"So you globally know the killer's modus operandi” Norman Jayden continued before Jodie interrupted him:

“What does he do to his victims after kidnapping them? Does he drown them immediately?” Jodie asked

“No” Jayden snarled at the thought “That bastard kidnaps them and they are found three to five days later dead, drowned....in rain water” Jodie opened both her eyes and mouth, emotion taking over her for a moment, before she closed her eyes, regaining her composure, she had to.

“Rainwater though, it must take time, more than five days”

“Not with this weather, it's been raining for days”

“If you say so...Is there anything more you can tell me?” Jodie's voice was now calm, and the agent didn't hesitate when he asked:

“Listen, I'm giving a briefing tomorrow to the investigation team, and if you really want to help, I'd be more than honored to welcome you two in-” He had begun, Jodie's eyes were already wide even before she heard:

"Jayden!" a blunt voice interrupted them, it was Carter Blake "What the fuck are you doing with them?!”

“Blake, you must ignore who this woman is, Jodie Holmes, CIA and this is her brother Aiden Holmes”

“You must also ignore that she was wanted for treason" spat Blake, still harsh on Jodie, he was harsh on anyone except his "cop friends" and Perry, Norman wasn't exaggerating when he said he _really disliked_ that man.

"You must also forget what I did one time to cops like you" responded Jodie, who was defending herself, she wasn't the kind to accept insults without saying anything, Jayden had heard about what she did, and he never understood _how one single person could have done this_ :

_"Nathan Dawkins opened wide the broken door, and entered what remained of the precinct, the lights were flashing, broken, the furnitures were slammed against walls, the doors and windows were destroyed_

_The precinct itself had been destroyed, the lieutenant was standing in the middle, looking at Dawkins confused_

_"Jodie...." Nathan whispered "What have you done?"_

_Jodie and Aiden had disappeared_

Blake shut up, he hated to admit it, but this woman had made a real massacre around her, she was _scary_ indeed, Jayden looked at Jodie with a sneaky smile, satisfied that someone else than him was putting Carter back in his place, he then resumed his sentence 

"I was gonna suggest for the Holmes to participate in my briefing tomorrow, I hope it doesn't bother you?" He had insisted on the last words

"Are you fucking kidding me?! What's next, you're gonna tell me you want them on the case too?!”

“It wouldn't be a bad idea, good suggestion" interrupted Aiden, full of the same attitude his sister had, Jodie smiled at this.

"Have you all lost your fucking minds?!”

“Listen Blake, the Holmes would be a great aid to the investigation”

“I don't give a fuck! We don't have to accept former CIA agents! Even less when they're _former fucking criminals!_ ” Jodie was about to intervene herself before Norman Jayden spoke up:

“It's either you accept them, either I leave, and I think Captain Perry, and the press really wants me to stay, we won't disagree with them right Blake?" The investigators looked at each other coldly and angrily, you could definitely see the hatred between them.

“Tsk, fine, _Jayden_ " said Blake, giving up, he walked away, back at his own car, leaving Norman looking at him coldly even from afar.

Jodie came closer to Jayden "Is he always that....”

“Probably yes, I've only known him for one day and I already can't stand him, guess that says a lot about him” He tried a small smirk at Jodie, who walked away.

“Anyway, thanks..." Norman looked at her, confused, why was she thanking him?

“To have allowed me and Aiden to be on this case”

“Oh that's nothing" answered the profiler, without any emotion in his voice nor his face, he only thought what he had done was natural, nonetheless Jodie Holmes finally gave him a small smile, showing some hint of trust, Norman Jayden gave it back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's Nahman! (and yes the chapter's name is a reference to this meme x) )  
> Sorry if there's any typos or strange words by the way, the first chapters had gotten eaten by one of my apps when I wrote on my phone and left some weird mix-up of words, I tried to fix most of them, but there can always be some slip-ups.  
> Add to that, I'm French and sometimes wrote at 6:AM, there can be some french slipped in there if I was too tired x)
> 
> (Also, I know Norman adding the Holmes to the case is a bit "randomish" but I didn't know how else to involve them with Norman's story ><)


	3. Suspect Chase

"The killer's white, aged between 30 and 45, he doesn't act on impulse but plans his crimes in a very meticulous fashion." 

Jayden was talking, focused on his speech, in front of Blake, the police captain Leighton Perry, Jodie and Aiden. One was listening, looking annoyed and bored, sure all of this _chit-chat_ was a waste of time, Perry looked as if he was only half here, probably worrying again about what he would tell the press, Aiden himself was _bored_ , he just wanted to know what to do to deal with his child killer as soon as possible, not listen to some theories about how he looked, his head was leaning against his palm, but he was still trying to not show his boredom, respecting Jayden, the only person in this precinct who hadn’t given any _glares_ at his sister. The latter looked completely engrossed in what Jayden was saying, he put on a little smirk while throwing a glance at Jodie, who just kept listening, concentrated, her eyes never blinking…

"He doesn't have anything personal against the victims, that's why he covers their faces with mud, to make them anonymous”

“Why does he kill them if he doesn't have anything against them?" asked Aiden, proving he was listening despite his half-uninterest.

“For him they're more of an image, a symbol, that's probably why he gives them an origami figure and an orchid, as gifts to apologize for what he's done to them..." 

Jayden took a pause, seeing as no one reacted to what he was saying, he was used to it, and seeing Carter Blake and Leighton Perry’s disinterest did not surprise him, however, he still waited for the Holmes’ reactions: Aiden was just staring, a frown forming on his face, Jodie on the other hand tore her eyes away from the screen behind Norman and looked at him, slowly nodding, raising an eyebrow as the FBI agent then pressed a button to change the projection behind him. She frowned in small confusion while Aiden’s smirk grew… Jodie then just shook her head and looked at where she assumed would be a projector: she instead found a pair of glasses. She sighed, those must part of the “ARI” technology Norman Jayden had mentioned using this morning as he had offered to drive the Holmes to the precinct, the glasses were projecting every single folder the FBI (or at least Norman Jayden, she wasn’t sure) owned about the Origami Killer case. Jodie gave the glasses one last wary look: every piece of advanced technology always reminded her of the Condensers, and what damage they caused...

_"The DPA launched a program studying the other's side, the Infraworld as they called, they've created a condenser, a machine, to open a rift to what lies Beyond_

_"...They opened a passage...to Aiden's world?" Jodie's voice was shaky, she was scared and curious at the same time, she always wondered where Aiden came from, and how it looked, but at the same time she was scared, there were the "monsters" as well, the bad entities..._

_Blood, blood everywhere._

_Dead bodies._

_Broken glass._

_These were the only things left in the room Jodie and Aiden just entered, the consoles controlling the Condenser were still here though, partly damaged, but still working. And in front of Jodie..._

_The Condenser, the rift, some kind of blue portal surrounded by big machines, entities getting out of it in swirling masses:_

_"They did it....a passage to the other side..."_

_Jodie got out of the building swaying and bleeding, Nathan’s eyes widened as he ran to her and caught her before she could fall on the ground_

_"Jodie! I shouldn't have sent you there, it's all my fault, it's all my fault..."I was so afraid I'd lost you" Jodie got away from Nathan's embrace, her eyes somber: she didn’t tell him she was fine, she didn’t tell him her bruises would heal, she only gave one single warning, that no one would ever paid attention to again:_

_"Tell them to never do that again, if they open a passage...there'll be nothing left"_

"Very interesting" said Blake, pulling Jodie out of her memories and making her turn “And where does all that get us?" the police lieutenant smirked, Jayden threw a glare, Jodie just rolled her eyes and turned back to face the screen, no wonder Jayden couldn’t stand this guy, _she already couldn’t either_

"It builds up a profile of the killer and helps us understand the person we're looking for” Norman punctuated his sentence with a press on a small remote controller to change the screen behind him once more, “It might have been useful if it was done earlier in this investigation" Jodie had a small smirk on her face, holding her scoff back, while Carter Blake and Leighton Perry only looked at each other with offended faces, Aiden didn’t have the resistance of his sister and chuckled out loud.

"Continue Jayden" said the police captain, his annoyance showing in his voice, Norman just did as he was told, he had to finish exposing all of his observations:

"One detail attracted my attention, the interval between the time when a victim disappears and the time when the body is found ranges from three to five days, but the rainfall is always at six inches, give or take ten percent"

“What on earth does that mean?" interrupted Perry, Jodie had lowered her eyes in thought.

“All the victims were drowned in rainwater, the killer kills only in the fall,when there is plenty of rain...”

“Maybe he puts them in some sort of well that is open to the sky and that fills up with rainwater?" Jodie cut him off, doing a small shrug-like gesture. Having guessed his thought immediately, it left Jayden impressed. 

"Exactly...the more it rains, the less time the victim has to live..." Jodie shuddered, whoever was doing this was _sick_...She had to catch this man, whatever it would take.

Jayden pressed his button three more times, showing a map on the screen behind him: 

"Then I studied the geographical distribution of the murders; Generally a killer commits his first murder near to where he lives, so he has a safe place to flee to if any complications arise, the more confident he becomes, the further he roams from his base. By analyzing the locations where the victims disappeared, I was able to isolate a zone where the killer might live”

“And what size is this er..."zone" ?" Blake said, smirking, wanting to mock or again ridicule the profiler's work, Jayden just answered calmly.

"For the moment, about ten square mile.”

“Oh great, there must be ten thousand people living in that sort of area. You’re gonna question them one by one?" Jodie sighed, this guy was seriously doing everything to be annoying, and this was enough to make the profiler raise his voice:

"It may not give us the address of the killer but at least it's something to go on...Blake if you've got a better plan, I'm willing to listen! Don't be shy, I'm all ears!" Both Aiden and Jodie turned around, not even bothering to hide their satisfied smirks:

Carter didn't answer, Jodie scoffed as the turned back to face Jayden

“Yeah, that’s what I thought” she muttered, loud enough for the profiler to hear however and to give her a very small smile, she hesitantly gave it back. 

"So what's next?" asked Captain Perry, since he didn't understand the profiler's plan neither, it would take ages if they were to question every single person living in this area, and so many suspects had already been questioned before, with no results... 

"There are two suspects whose psychological profiles might fit and can be connected to the "comfort" zone. I'd like to question them” Norman finally concluded, Jodie slowly nodded, ready to-

“Goddamnit”

Blake’s voice resonated again, both Norman Jayden and Jodie Holmes glared at him

“We're wasting our time with this bullshit. The killer is out there somewhere, we've got to get off our asses and find him!”

“Blake, I've had just about enough of your shit. You've been chasing this guy for what- two years, and what have you caught, huh?! Nothing! Abso-fucking-lutely nothing!” Jodie was taken aback, Jayden had remained calm all throughout his explanation, to his defense though, she could see why he, _heck_ _anyone_ would have lost their composure. This “Blake” was _an annoying son of-_

“Wait think you can do a better fucking job than me with psychology degree, your great glasses and you fucking former CIA agents?! Well let me tell you something pal, that don't mean zip when it comes to getting out there. You're just a fuckin' bureaucrat!”

“I came here to find the killer and that's exactly what I'm gonna do! With or without your help!”

“Fuckin' asshole!" Blake rose up suddenly, enraged, he looked like he was about to kill Jayden right then and there, Aiden held to his chair with widened eyes as the man had been about to kick it in the profiler’s face.

"That's enough!" said Captain Perry, raising his hand to signal Blake to calm down "You said it took six inches of rainfall before the victim's death. How much time do we have left?" 

Norman thought a little before answering 

"If the weather forecasts are right, less than seventy two hours." He downed his head, Jodie did the same, they didn't have much time to save this poor kid... 

“You better go now then” said Perry calmly

“I got the address” Blake snarled “Let's fucking go now, we’ll use my car-”

“Wait, I'd like my… “assistants” to come with me” Norman added, Jodie rose her head

“ “Assistant”?” She scoffed a little, Norman Jayden was about to apologize to her when Blake roared again:

“Are you kidding me?! They have no right to be there!”

“You'd rather have me quitting the case?!” After Norman's sentence, everyone went silent, Jodie was impressed, even in a way _moved_ at the profiler’s determination to keep her and Aiden with him, she still viewed herself as a bad luck magnet in a way after all…

Perry couldn't take Norman off the case without a good reason, the FBI wouldn't leave him alone if he did nor would the press, and not accepting his “assistants” wasn't enough to send him back to Washington, he looked at Blake and gave him a nod, indicating that they had no other choice. Carter tsked and left the room slamming the door, Leighton Perry followed him quietly, Aiden was going to follow them, mouthing a “let’s go” to Jodie, who told him to wait, Jayden was taking his glasses and the rest of his equipment, Jodie approached him:

“It might be better if we leave the case, me and Aiden”

“What?!” Norman exclaimed “No! It would be-” The profiler took a breathe to regain his composure “Blake is an asshole, I know we are forced to work with him, that doesn’t mean he needs to get away with anything he wants alright?”

“Well this “asshole” might threaten us or something'” said Aiden, who joined them, still a bit hesitant to leave his sister alone with another man, he still remembered the bar and Ryan, even if here, Jodie and Jayden weren't exactly “flirting”... 

“I'll take care of this if it happens”

“No need to, as long as I’m allowed to give him a punch if he goes to far it should be fine” Jodie chuckled, Norman gave her a small smile.

“Jayden! What are you doing?!” roared Blake from the hallway, Jayden rolled his eyes, giving one last smile to Jodie before he went out saying “I'll be waiting for you two then”, Jodie nodded as Norman began to leave the room, eventually though, she spoke up again

“Agent Jayden!”

The latter turned his head toward her, a small frown on his face

“Thanks again...for everything” She smiled slightly, the profiler smiled as well:

“You’re welcome Jodie Holmes” he then resumed his way out of the room, leaving the Holmes twins alone, as Jodie was about to take her jacket she noticed her brother’s eyes on her:

“What is it?” She asked annoyed as she turned around to see Aiden’s face scrunched up, ready to laugh,

“He likes you”

“What? Aiden stop with your bullshit!” Jodie turned back, her face a little red

“Oh come on! Even a blind guy could see it!”

“He barely knows me!” 

“Didn’t stop him to immediately recognize you and accept you in the investigation when you did doe eyes at him”

“What the fuck? I didn’t do any “doe eyes”!” Jodie almost yelled as he grabbed her beanie as well, turning around sighing, trying to ignore whatever Aiden was saying.

“Doe eyes or not, he likes you” Jodie rolled her eyes “Come _on_ Jodie! It’s so obvious!” She again just sighed

“Even if we admit that you’re right, which you’re not, why are you so happy about it? Usually you’re the first one to try and ruin my dates mister “You don’t need him, you have me””

Aiden thought a little then shrugged:

“I don’t know, he seems nice-”

“Ryan seemed nice” She gave him a significant look “Remember where that got me?”, Aiden frowned a little, then finally understood what was going through his sister’s mind:

“Not every single person you meet is gonna betray you Jodie” The latter just stared at hims, her eyes flinching a little before she looked down, having finally put on her jacket.

“Come on, they’re waiting for us” She didn’t give Aiden any time to reply as she left the room…

* * *

Carter Blake, Norman Jayden, Aiden and Jodie Holmes were going up the stairs of a building, leading to the first suspect's door: Nathaniel Williams.

The group stopped in front of this door, Jayden knocked, and getting no answers, he turned to his "team" before knocking again, getting the same result.

"No answer...We've wasted our time coming here...” Norman had already his doubts about this one suspect, his psychological profile only partly fit due to one arrestation that led to his immediate release, but still, the FBI didn’t know enough about him, if this man was the killer, he was discreet enough to never have been noticed…

“Maybe he’s out, we could just wait?” Jodie suggested, Norman was about to nod when Carter just gave them a hard stare, his arms crossed:

“Maybe we should have a little look inside anyway...” muttered Blake

“There's nobody home" Norman stated, matter of factly, Blake approached the door before kicking it open: 

"There's now...”

“I'm not sure that's entirely legal” Jayden spoke up, almost in shock before Blake’s brash methods

“...Call the cops” Blake gave him a smirk, Norman threw a look at Jodie, the latter then just rolled her eyes, and got in with Norman and Aiden, Jayden left the door half-opened. Blake went directly to observe the room...covered in crucifixes, the only table standing in the room had a Bible resting on it, and was lit with candles, the windows were blocked off. The room had a heavy smell, and overall, an obscure feeling...

"Looks like Nathaniel Williams is a pretty religious guy...” Norman stated

“ Oh really? What makes you say that?" “asked” Jodie, clearly sarcastic.

"That's obvious, look at all these crucifix-”

“I was being sarcastic, Agent Jayden...” She gave him a look

“...Oh" Jodie chuckled a little:

"You're a profiler and you don't understand when I'm being sarcastic?

“I'm sorry I was a bit off I guess" The agent awkwardly smiled at her, scratching the back of his neck, Jodie widened her eyes a little, still gave him a small smile out of politeness but quickly looked away, to her annoyance, she had found the profiler’s gesture rather “cute”, but she couldn’t let herself trust him, _never again_.

Blake looked at them and sighed of disgust, Aiden was giving them a small, but slightly sad smile, he didn’t mind Jayden, he seemed reasonable enough not to hurt his sister, unlike Ryan had, he grimaced, realising again that even if he was not in Jodie’s life anymore, he had caused her to shutdown any tiny chance at trusting anyone. 

"He's a God-fearin' idiot waiting for the end of the world..." declared Carter all of a sudden about the suspect "We questioned him a few months back because he was causing a disturbance in the park. He was ranting and raving, said he heard voices..." Jodie reacted with wide eyes to this last sentence

_"I was born with a strange gift, I can see and hear what no human being has ever seen nor heard"_

Maybe Williams wasn't insane, maybe he just had a gift like her...

"Got this idea in his sick little head that I was the Anti-Christ and that I'd come to Earth to persecute him. Real twisted..."

“Yeah I really can't understand why he thinks that" chuckled Aiden, Blake looked at him angrily, Jayden and Jodie couldn’t help but exchange a smirk, before going back to observe the rooms.

"The walls are covered with writing" muttered Jayden, taking back his seriousness "Quotations from the Bible." 

Jayden frowned, he was reflecting "All the signs of a mystical obsessive neurosis compounded by persecution complex" Jodie looked at him with big brown confused eyes, Norman just continued his observations, going in another room of the apartment, Jodie shrugged and left for another room as well as Aiden and Blake, each of the investigation team members inspecting different rooms.

"This place stinks, guess no one opened a window in years" stated Jodie, pinching her nose, in the bathroom.

"You don't have to be a profiler to see that he's not a killer" declared Jayden, who had joined her "We're wasting our time here”

“Maybe we should stay to question him anyway, who knows” She wanted to know if the man was insane, like this idiot Blake had said, or if he was like her...

“ _If_ he comes back" Jayden and Jodie looked around, it’s true that the apartment was in such a decayed state that it could have very well been abandoned, they then just shrugged and went back in the living room, Aiden was looking at the candles:

"The candles are still lit. He should be back soon..."

Jodie turned around when she heard a creaking noise, Aiden turned as well to see Nathaniel Williams entering:

"Told you" 

Williams looked worried, Blake looked at him, crossed arms, looking threatening with a small sadistic smirk

"Good timing Nathaniel. Just the man we're looking for”

“Angels and ministers of grace, defend us...”

“I'm agent Norman Jayden, FBI, these are my assistants, Jodie and Aiden Holmes, we'd like to ask you a few questions”

“As God is my witness, I haven't done anything. I'm innocent”

“Relax, nobody's accusing you of anything, we just wanna talk” Norman stated calmly, not aggressively like Jodie was used to do back when she worked for the CIA “Where do you work Nathaniel, do you have a job?”

“My sole occupation is praying to the all merciful lord for the salvation of humanity”

“Nathaniel, do you remember where you were last Tuesday at 4:30 PM?”

“Here. I was here...I was praying, all day.”

“Was there anybody with you?”

“No...No, I was alone.”

“Why all the crucifixes? Are you afraid of something?”

“The hour is nigh and the wrath of God shall strike men down! I'm preparing for the end of the world.” Jodie frowned slightly at this.

“What about the voices, Nathaniel?" interjected Blake suddenly "Do you still hear voices?" He rose up and got closer to Nathaniel, who seemed to shudder "We know who talks to you, don't we, Nathaniel? We both know who talks to you”

“Don't...speak...that name!”

“What does he say to you, Nathaniel?”

“Blake what are you doing?" intervened Jayden

“I can't talk about it. You mustn't talk about it...”

“He orders you to go find new prey, doesn't he?”

“That's enough! Leave him alone!”

“He needs more and more”

“No...Nooo. You mustn't mention him. You'll bring him here!”

“He told you to go and find that kid in the park.”

“Carter, shit, are you out of your mind?!”

“The voices tormented you all night long. You wanted them to stop, didn't you Nathaniel?”

"Stop! Stop, that's enough!”

"So you obeyed them to make them stop" Carter grasped Nathaniel's shirt and pulled him up "You took that boy with you and you drowned him, isn't that right?!” Jodie was about to intervene when Blake threw the suspect back on the floor:

"You killed them, didn't you Nathaniel?! Are you gonna confess you bastard?!" He gave him a good kick, before Nathaniel rose up slowly, getting a gun ready out of his pocket and aiming it at Blake: 

"You are the Anti-Christ!”

"Put down the gun, Nathaniel!" exclaimed Jayden, aiming his gun at Nathaniel, Jodie and Aiden backed up.

"I shall dispatch you to your father in Hell! He is the son of Satan! He was sent to Earth to destroy us!”

"Shoot, Jayden, for Christ's sakes! Shoot!” yelled Blake.

"You're not gonna kill the Antichrist with a revolver, Nathaniel. He's much too powerful for that.” Norman tried to calm the suspect down by pretending to believe like him.

"Antichrist my ass! Get the gun outta my face!”

"Keep calm. Everything is gonna be fine, Nathaniel.” Norman spoke

"Demon, you shall regret confronting the emissary of the Lord! You shall know divine power!” The suspect kept ignoring him

"Nathaniel calm down" Jodie walked slowly toward him, talking as softly as she could "I know what the voices are..." She was now convinced of what was happening:

_"Your mother tells me you have an invisible friend"_

_Nathan Dawkins was looking kindly at Jodie, who just nodded_

_"This...friend...Has he been with you a long time?" Jodie shrugged_

_"Since you were born?" She nodded_

_"Is he a ghost? Or a spirit of someone who passed away?" Jodie shrugged once again, she didn't know at that time that Aiden was her brother..._

_"Can you...draw him for me?" Jodie nodded, Nathan gave her a piece of paper and one of his pen, Jodie started to draw herself, well at least what you could "interpret" it was herself, since it was only some lines and a round head with hair, she was linked to some kind of big black spot. She gave it to Nathan Dawkins, who examined it, intrigued_

_"So...this thing is your friend...And he's connected to you with some kind of cord?....Is he here right now?" Jodie nodded hesitantly_

_"Can you talk to him?"...She nodded once again, she always talked to him and he talked to her all the time as well..."_

“I can help you” Jodie spoke again

"Fuck! What is she talking about?!" yelled Blake who was both scared by the gun in front of him and also worried that he was working with an insane girl, Nathaniel hadn't move but was listening to Jodie:

"I can make it go, you don't have to kill Carter Blake" said Jodie trying to calm Nathaniel down, she hoped he was going to listen to her, Norman just stared at her, hoping she knew what she was doing. Nathaniel Williams’s somewhat confused look disappeared completely, letting his aggressive look come back:

“Witch! You're on his side! You serve him as well!!” He suddenly aimed his gun at Jodie, who gasped about to back away, Aiden about throw himself between them if needed,

But there would be no need:

Norman Jayden had shot and killed Nathaniel with one single shot of his gun...

A silence fell in the place, Jodie raised her eyes at Jayden with concern, he seemed panicked, and shocked, even _traumatized._

“I...I shot him” 

He downed his gun, still devastated, he had taken a human life, an innocent human life, just to protect Blake!...No, not Blake,... _Jodie Holmes_

“Yup, looks like you did” Blake broke him out of his thoughts with his casual reply “ Can't say I'll miss him, come on, let's go” he chuckled, Carter got out of the apartment, leaving Jayden behind him, not even apologizing nor expressing any empathy...Jodie walked slowly closer to Norman, who still had the same look on his face, a look she recognized, as it had been on her face before…

 _Jodie entered the room, the scent of sand mingling itself with the smell of blood as she stepped inside to see the bloodbath Aiden-_ **_she_ ** _had created, she flinched at first, but she knew it had been the right thing to do...Those people were murderers after all…_

_She kept walking to the warlord’s corpse, Gemaal, and quickly took a picture of it as proof of her mission having succeeded._

_She hadn’t heard the small steps behind her:_

_“Salim?” She turned around to look at him and slowly rose up._

_The child only ran to one of the corpses, yelling, falling to his knees, trying to shake the man awake despite all the blood he was putting on his small hands…_

_“Oh god…” Jodie muttered as she watched the scene before her, realizing what had happened “He...He’s your father?” Tears had begun to make their way to her face as Salim looked up at her with nothing but pure hatred: He spoke up, again Jodie couldn’t understand what he was saying, however the message was still clear: he was aiming a gun at Jodie, ready to avenge his father. He shot, but Aiden had immediately created a force-shield to protect his sister, as she kept silently crying…_

_“You lied to me…”_

_“What are you talking about?” Ryan spoke in pure disdain_

_“Gemaal wasn’t a warlord...He was the president”_

**_“I have blood on my hands! Some kid lost his father because of me! Because I trusted you!!”_ **

_“Welcome to the CIA Jodie, it's not fucking choir practice in case you haven't noticed now we had a job to do and we did end of story!_

_"This might be just a fucking job to you, but I don't go around and kill innocent people because some fucking five-star general tells me to!”_

“It's...It's not your fault...He probably would have killed us if you didn't-” She stopped, downed her head, and muttered: 

“I went through this too” the profiler looked at her still shocked, Jodie rose her head back up, a sad expression was on her face as she hesitantly put a hand on Norman’s shoulder. 

“I...I think we should leave” was the only answer he gave to her.

* * *

Jodie and Aiden weren't saying anything, still in shock, Jodie wasn't talking because of all the thoughts running through her mind, she felt guilty: guilty about what happened, she felt like she was the one responsible for this situation, even if someone was to be blamed, it should be Carter Blake, but she couldn’t shake the familiar memories away nor the usual feeling of her being a bad luck magnet…

Norman was still _paralyzed_ by what he had done, and Jodie couldn't help but feel sympathy for him, she knew this feeling after all, she had killed, killed an innocent and also partly because of a _n asshole_...

Jayden and Blake weren't talking either, a deep silence remained in the lieutenant's car. They were all waiting for the next suspect, Miroslav Korda, Norman was leaning against the window, still looking saddened by what he did.

He acted by reflex, by impulsion, the suspect was going to kill Jodie Holmes!...Why didn't he have this reflex with Blake? Nathaniel was threatening to kill Carter Blake at any second, and yet Jayden shot only when he threatened Jodie, sure he disliked Blake, but he knew Jodie for only one day! He had heard about her before of course, she had been in a way like him, a CIA agent who had refused to give up her morals, at least from what he had heard about her, and he admired her for this but that was it, he had known her personally only since a couple of days...he couldn't find any logical explanation:

“Was that the first time?" Blake broke the silence, looking at Jayden 

"Sorry?

"First time you killed somebody?" The profiler threw a quick look at him before turning his head away from him, still looking sad, did he really have to talk about it? It was already horrific enough to _think_ about it, he didn't have to make it worse...

"It always does something to you the first time. Then you get used to it.” Blake had a nostalgic smile, which disgusted Jodie.

"I'm not sure, I wanna get used to it..." muttered Jayden, downing his look, Jodie approached him, putting again a hand on his shoulder, and she could feel his guilt just by this small touch, she sighed:

"You don't have to"

Jayden looked at her, no small smile this time, just the same expression of regret, he turned his head back, Jodie sat completely back as well, Aiden frowning at her, touching her shoulder as well silently asking her if she was okay, but before she could answer:

"That's him" Norman had seen the suspect.

Everyone went out of Blake's car and reached for the man, drinking his coffee under the rain "Miroslav Korda?" asked Blake, without any aggression for once, Norman showed his FBI card. 

"Yeah?”

"Lieutenant Carter Blake, I'd like to ask you a few questions." 

Korda didn't seem scared, he seemed calm and walked peacefully toward Blake's car _“That was simple”_ thought Norman _,_ but then, the man suddenly threw his cup of coffee at Carter to daze him, then pushed Jayden, Jodie and Aiden, before running away. Jayden caught himself back, and reached for Jodie to see if she was alright, not caring about Aiden though, who cringed and smirked at the same time.

"Shit don't just stand there Jayden, your girlfriend can wait! He's gonna get away!" 

Jodie blushed a bit, but rolled her eyes nonetheless _,_ Jayden didn't really catch this and just chased Korda down the street, both pushing people. Korda crossed the road, Jayden followed him avoiding one car and sliding on the other before resuming his chase for Korda on the street's other side. They ran until Korda entered a supermarket, the agent kept following him. Both of them kept pushing people in their way, Korda threw everything he could at Jayden: fruits and vegetable crates, tables and chairs... Norman kept following him without falling too much. He ended climbing a stall to keep following the suspect, once he got close enough to jump on him and block him, he tried...and ended up on the floor. Korda obviously didn't wait for him, Jayden rose up, Korda threw fishes stalls, to make the floor slippery, the profiler managed to go through it, not without difficulties to stay up though. Norman kept running, and was starting to get sick of it, what was the suspect gonna do again to slow him down?! Korda freed chickens out of their cages to slow down Jayden once again "Shit, I hate these damn birds!" 

One flew in his face, _that's mostly why he hated them, these birds were crazy_. Jayden kept running until he lost Korda in the cold room, he couldn't see anything! He took his gun, it was so cold though his hands were numb, he suddenly felt something tapping his shoulder, he immediately aimed his gun...at Jodie 

“Hey! Relax! I'm here to help!”

"Bad idea Holmes” Jayden turned his head searching for Korda, 

"What do I do if he's armed? I don't have any gun!”

"You're a former CIA operative! You know how to fight!”

"No need to be aggressive!”

"Sorry" said Jayden quickly, Jodie threw him a quick glare, but she forgave him nonetheless, this situation was stressful enough, no need to make it worse, the two were walking forward, searching Korda.

"Where the fuck is Blake?!”

"I don't know, I'm the only one who seems to have followed you” Jodie was looking around, checking everywhere to make sure Korda couldn't sneak up on either of them.

"At least I can count on one person" Jodie gave a small smile to the agent though he didn't even look at her, too busy searching Korda 

"Come on, show your ugly bastard face!" 

Something suddenly hit his hand, it was Korda with a small metal pole, Norman pushed him before he could hit him again, the metal pole was stuck in a piece of meat, Korda started to run but Jayden took the pole and threw it in his back, making the suspect fall off, he ran toward him, almost charging but got pushed off, the suspect got the metal pole back and was about to hit Jayden with it but he dodged it, and got pushed away instead, to be attacked again, Norman avoided the hits again and even managed to punch the suspect, he somehow kind of had the advantage, not for long though, Korda hit him in the head and clasped him behind the pole, trying to choke him. All of a sudden, the pole flew away against the wall and ended up on the floor, Korda looked there, astounded, Norman too for a few seconds before he took advantage of the fact that the suspect wasn't looking at him and punched him in the head, then knocking him out on a metal counter. He then looked at Jodie goggle-eyed, was that her who...threw the bar away?...How?

"Are you okay?" she said quietly, trying to evade, not wanting him to wonder what happened...

"Yeah, I'm- I'm fine" he was exhausted though "What the hell happened?" She didn't answer. 

Blake and Aiden arrived running 

"Are you okay Jodie?!" asked Aiden, worried that his sister might be hurt 

"Yes I'm alright Aiden don't worry...” The whole team then looked at the man lying on the floor.

"This time it looks like we got our Origami Killer" stated Blake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep! The chapters are getting a bit longer ;)  
> Also, I know there are a lot of flashbacks from Beyond Two Souls/Jodie's memories, sorry for that, I wrote it for anyone not having played any of the games (or not having played it in a long while)


	4. "I was born with a strange gift"

"I didn't do it! I swear I didn't do it!" Miroslav Korda was being questioned "I've got nothing to do with that business! I never killed anybody”

"Oh no? Then why did you run away when they came to question you!?” Ash, Blake's friend and colleague was interrogating him

"I already told you, I forgot to report to my parole officer. I didn't wanna go back to prison...When I saw the cops, I just bolted, I wasn't thinkin' straight!”

"We checked out his statement, he has an alibi for at least three of the murders..." A police officer stated, Blake punched a wall. 

"Fuck! that bastard was the perfect fit...Shit!" Jayden sighed and looked at Jodie who yawned, he then stated 

"We're wasting our time here, I'm gonna go back to the hotel, gonna take the Holmes back as well" He rose up, gesturing Jodie and Aiden to rise as well, they exit the interrogation room. 

"If he's not the killer, then who do you think it is?" asked Jodie, walking with her brother and you could say "colleague" to the exit of the precinct, the investigators only had two suspects, and both of them were either dead or “innocent”

"I don't know, do you have any theories?”

"I'm not a profiler" Jodie smiled, Jayden grinned a bit.   


"I know but you could have a theory I didn't think of””

"No I don't, I would have told you otherwise, we're partners now afterall?” Jodie smirked, Jayden smiled as well, working with Jodie Holmes was a honor for him, and the experience was pleasant as well, the person behind the name of Jodie Holmes was after all quite... _ charming _

"True, well maybe I missed some people whose psychological profiles could fit, and who lives in the geoprofiling zone, I'll see that at the hotel, how about you two?”

"What about us?”

"What are you gonna do?”

"I don't know, maybe get some rest or something”

"Okay...Where do you live so I can take you back”

"We don't live here" said Aiden quickly "We don't live anywhere in fact" 

Norman looked at them confused 

"We're just staying at a motel" Jodie stated in a low voice...

Jayden looked at them, kinda pitifully and then smiled slightly 

"Then I'll get you one room in my hotel" Jodie's eyes widened,  _ was he serious?  _

“No, no it's okay you don't need to-”

"I insist! And it will be more convenient for the investigation!” Jodie sighed, giving up, he was right after all...

* * *

The room Jayden had booked for Aiden and Jodie was not-so big, with two beds separated by a low wall, a big desk was standing next to a big window, in front of one of the bed, an opening was leading to a bathroom 

“I'm in the same hallway if you need me, second door on the left” At these words, Jayden left the siblings alone. 

Aiden started to wander in the room, looking around him. Jodie just sat down on one of the beds, assuming it would be hers later, she thought about the fight against Korda, she indeed had made the metallic pole “fly away”  _ How? _ She only could do that with Aiden before, what did all of this mean? 

“Aiden?”

"Yeah?” he answered from afar, doing who knows what in the bathroom

“Do you think our....”abilities” are still...within us?”

"What do you mean?” said Aiden coming back and sitting next to his sister 

“You know our... “powers”, when we could move things with our mind? ”

"...I think it did stay....” Aiden replied after having thought about it “You remember that time in the shop? With the robbery?”

"Yeah?”

"I nearly choked Andrew to death, without touching him” Jodie looked at him, she remembered indeed he had red eyes and Andrew looked like he was suffocating...

“We've gotta figure it out ” Jodie spoke, rising up from her bed

"How?

"I don't know! Try to concentrate or something!” Jodie looked at the lamp, Aiden frowned, he was convinced she couldn't do anything without their bond, beside seeing the entities, though the lamp started to move slightly and to flash, then flew on the wall, breaking. Aiden widened his eyes while Jodie smirked, then tried something more ambitious, she stared at the desk. 

“That's way too big!” yelled Aiden, his sister didn't listen to him, and the desk started to float in the air 

“Okay next time I'll shut up...” Aiden said in awe.

Jodie closed her eyes, making every light flash and almost every piece of furniture fly, Aiden was looking at her in awe, happy to see his sister still being able to do this, and not noticing the bed he was sitting on was floating in the air as well...

The door opened revealing Jayden who looked at Jodie with wide eyes, the furniture fell back down immediately, Jodie turned immediately toward Jayden, leaving an awkward silence....

Jodie downed her look, she couldn't possibly explain him, he'd stop trusting her, he'd think her insane...Surprisingly though, Norman quickly changed the topic 

“We have news from the precinct, Blake just called me...I'm still wondering why I gave my number to this bastard” He didn't seem to be worried by Jodie making objects fly, which was strange but she kept that remark to herself and left with Jayden and Aiden.

* * *

“Finally, Grace Mars wants to talk to us,” Blake stated, walking along them.

"Why?” asked Jodie

"She might have important information, isn't it obvious?” Jodie rolled her eyes, Blake turned his head to face where he was walking. He sat down in front of Grace Mars, the mother of Shaun Mars and ex-wife of Ethan Mars, the mother of the victim... 

"Go ahead, tell us what you got to say”

"It was a few months back" She had a soft voice, somewhat not entirely convinced and worried tone within it 

"The middle of the night. It was pouring down. Ethan came home completely drenched at about three, I asked him where he'd been...He uhm...he spoke about drowning, the rain...uhm...he didn't make any sense, there was something...something in his eyes, as if it wasn't really him..." Jodie's eyes opened wide at this sentence, this reminded her of  _ something _ ... she couldn't really talk about it in the middle of a precinct though...

_ "I know...I can feel it too...They're here" Jodie was walking in the middle of a devastated laboratory room  _

_ "Stay close to me okay?" she thought, scared, she might die here if Aiden doesn't help and protect her, Aiden answered with his usual sounds: some kind of noise only she could understand... _

_ Everything was broken, empty and silent...Until she heard little cries, she walked toward them when suddenly a man rose up, a scientist, a traumatized scientist  _

_ "No! No,no please! Please go away! Go away! God, no! Please!" he scarily said to Jodie, he thought she was an entity  _

_ "Easy" she muttered calmly "I'm, I'm Jodie, I work with Professor Dawkins... _

_ "The entities...they invaded the laboratory. Creatures from the depth, I managed to hide ...but they're still here, I know they're still here!" Jodie looked at him, that poor man had witnessed the horror the entities could cause, it was obvious  _

_ "Try to get to the elevator. It's working now, you should be able to get out _

_ "You're staying here?!" His eyes had widened, this young seventeen year old girl was going to stay all alone in a laboratory where entities were waiting to kill anyone they could?! _

_ "But, those things...those things will kill you!" he exclaimed, Jodie looked at him, she knew that...that it could be a  _ **_possibility_ ** _ ,but she had Aiden, he was going to protect her  _

_ "I'm not alone. _

_ "We always face death alone." He ran, leaving Jodie, but before he could leave the room, something happened... _

_ Jodie turned slowly, the man had stopped moving  _

_“Die you little bitch-DIE!!!"_ _The entity inside him yelled before throwing a chair at her, making her fall and yell in pain_

_ The man now had white terrifying eyes...” _

"There may be no connection but...the next day, there was that announcement about another victim of the Origami Killer..." Blake and Jayden looked at each other, they had a lead! The finally had a fucking good lead! 

"Find my son! I'm begging you!" Grace Mars said tears in her eyes, Blake had a little smirk on his face, Jayden seemed to be reflecting, a father kidnapping his own kid? 

_ Ethan Mars was sitting in front of Carter Blake, Norman Jayden and one of his colleagues, he had just lost Shaun... _

_ "This is Lieutenant Blake, Mr Mars." said the colleague, completely ignoring the fact that Norman was here too, he didn't feel offended though, he was getting used to it "Could you please tell him what happened? _

_ "It was this afternoon, I went to the park with my son Shaun. We played together for a while and then he wanted to go on the carousel, so I put him up on one of the wooden horses and when I turned back..." He downed his head, "Shaun had disappeared _

_ "Exactly what time did you arrive in the park? Try to remember exactly, Mr Mars, every detail can be important." asked Blake, interested _

_ "It must have been about....4:15, yes I remember exactly because I looked at the clock in the park when I arrived” _

_ "What was your son wearing when he disappeared?” _

_ "He was wearing a coat, a beige coat, and a pair of pants, green pants" Blake looked at Ethan confused  _

_ "How could Shaun have disappeared without you even noticing? Weren't you right by the carousel?” _

_ "I did! I...I didn't leave, I watched the carousel and...” _

_ "How could Shaun possibly have vanished if you were right there watching the carousel?" Ash, Blake's colleague, cut him _

_ "I don't know! I don't understand” _

_ "You say you took your son to the park after school. But you didn't report him missing until 8:15, why did it take you so long to contact the police?” _

_ "I searched the whole neighborhood for him! I thought he couldn't have gone far” _

_ "Did Shaun have any particular difficulties, Mr Mars?" suddenly asked Jayden, who had been quiet until now "Anything that might have caused him to run away?” _

_ "...Shaun is a sensitive child. Our relationship has been a little difficult recently...” _

_ "Everything ok at school? Any particular problems between you and your wife? _

_ "My wife and I have been separated for the last six months. But Shaun would not have gone off without telling his mother or me."  _

_ After Ethan's words, they all stayed quiet a little before Carter stated  _

_ "All right, that's all the questions I have for now. You're free to go, Mr Mars. We'll continue to look for Shaun overnight. We'll contact you if we have any more questions" Blake rose up, leaving Ethan, he had somewhat a really worried expression, he knew there were another possibility than a runaway..He rose up catching back Blake _

_ "Do...Do you think the Origami Killer..." Blake turned, trying to sound a bit reassuring  _

_ "Listen, your son's probably just run off, and he'll turn up in a couple of hours” _

_ "But what if it is the Origami Killer? _

_ "Well then we've got about four days to find him alive..." _

Nothing in his behavior when he reported Shaun missing was showing that he was acting and not really worried, it didn't make sense but it was their only lead, and maybe Ethan Mars was just a good manipulator...

Jodie however was convinced that just at the moment reported by his ex-wife, he was either possessed by an entity or linked to one, and she now understood why she had sensed something in her that made her go to Philadelphia...

* * *

The group went to a therapist, who had Ethan Mars as his patient, they obviously had to question him if they wanted to be sure that Ethan was guilty. 

"I'm police Lieutenant Carter Blake, and this is agent Norman Jayden of the FBI and his assistants" Blake said quietly for once, sitting in front of the shrink's desk, Jayden and the Holmes just stayed up 

"According to our information, Ethan Mars is one of your patients. We'd like to ask you a few questions about him”

"I'm sorry, that's impossible”

"I beg your pardon?”

"I'm bound by an oath of secrecy. Under no circumstances may I discuss my patients”

"My job is to find Shaun Mars alive and I don't give a damn about any bullshit oath." Blake had quickly got his aggressiveness back “

"It's your duty to inform the police if you suspect one of your patients, Doctor." said Jayden, sitting on the desk, Jodie moved beside him, not comfortable with staying alone on the side

"I'm sorry. I can't help you. Now I must ask you to leave" Blake rose up, looking annoyed 

"You need to cooperate- for your own sake.”

"Are you threatening me?” The psychiatrist was slowly moving his hand toward his phone...

"I'm just giving you some free advice, Doc. I suggest you take it." said Blake indeed looking threatening

"I know you don't want to protect a murderer," said Jayden calmly "If you know anything, you must tell us, Doctor.”

"I'm going to call the police and make a complaint about your behavior" The therapist took his phone, about to call when Blake rose up suddenly, hung up the phone and grabbed the shrink's shirt, to his surprise 

"Doctor, you're really pushing my buttons. The only thing I'm interested in is saving that kid's life. So you're gonna be a good boy and tell me what I want to know or I'm really going to LOSE MY TEMPER”

"Let go of me...You...you have no right..." He was coughing, Blake was literally choking him, Jayden and Jodie rose up about to intervene but Blake let go of the shrink, so they just stayed there...until the lieutenant grabbed him again, choking him halfway, he then threw him on the desk, the shrink rolled off of it and ended up on the floor 

"C'mon Doc, there's an easy way and a hard way" He grabbed him again "It's your fucking choice" he pushed him on the desk and started to punch him in the head 

"You have no right to hit him!" exclaimed Jayden, getting closer to Blake, who just pushed him away not caring 

"I'm saving a kid's life for Christ's sake! If you don't like it, leave!"

"What if I choked  _ him _ ?" Aiden muttered, starting to get angry, Jodie looked at him panicked, her brother was seriously considering it, she put her hand on his forearm to try to soothe him, but thankfully Jayden pushed Blake away before Aiden could do anything .

"What's up with you, Norman? You getting cold feet? You don't like to get your hands dirty huh?! I thought you wanted to save that kid!”

"I wanna save Shaun Mars just as much as you do, but that doesn't give me the freedom to do what the hell I like so you're gonna stop this shit right now!" 

Blake moved away, angry and giving up on punching the shrink, he turned around 

"I'll get you for this, Jayden. Don't worry, I will not forget!

"Ethan Mars has had psychological problems since his first son died..." The shrink had finally decided to talk, his nose bleeding because of Blake's punches, he probably had got scared and gave up on his oath 

"He feels responsible for his death...A sort of morbid neurosis...He is haunted by visions of drowning bodies..." 

Norman seemed to think, it was indeed a good lead and a good reason to suspect Ethan Mars, he might not even realize what he was doing...

Jodie meanwhile was still thinking how all of this could be related to an entity.

"A few weeks ago, after one of our usual sessions, I found this on the floor, it must have fallen out of one his pocket" 

He went to his desk to search something, he searched through folders and finally found what he was looking for: a little origami figure.

* * *

"Ash, I want you to assign every available man to finding Ethan Mars" 

The team was back in Carter's car, listening to him spitting on his phone.

"I want a man outside his place day and night. Notify all agencies to start looking for him. I want you to keep an eye on the train stations, the airports, the bus terminals. I want every cop in the city on his ass so that if he moves, we know about it. Yes, Ethan Mars is the Origami Killer." 

Jayden looked at Blake, this guy was ready to do anything to get a suspect, yes a  **suspect** , as far as he knew, Ethan Mars wasn't confirmed to be the Killer yet, sure there were  _ leads _ but not enough to be certain

"Norman?" Jodie interrupted his thoughts and had weirdly started to call him by his first name, he looked at her:

"I don't think Ethan Mars is the killer”

"Everything's against him, Holmes" Jayden had to admit, Mars was the perfect suspect so far...

"I think all of this is something more...strange" The agent looked at his "assistant" a tad confused by her words

"What do you mean?” Jodie looked at him, why did she even say that?! He wouldn't believe her, and even then, she wasn't completely sure about her idea neither. 

“Honestly, Norman, I'd rather tell you when I'll be completely sure”

"...Okay then” She had intrigued him though, what was her theory on all of this? Jodie had shown to be quite clever and intelligent so the agent couldn't help but be interested in what she was thinking about all of this.


	5. "My life is a fucking mess"

“Still no news of Ethan Mars?” asked Jodie to Norman, they, with Aiden, had gotten back to the hotel, since it was now late in the evening and Blake had stopped the search of any other suspect, he was really convinced it was Ethan, even without having questioned him.

“No, I think Blake would have called me if we had” Jodie sat down on her bed, next to Aiden, Norman looked at her, some kind of curiosity in his eyes 

“Did you work on your theory?” He was still wondering what reasonment she had made earlier

“Not yet, I didn't have time” Jodie answered quickly, she needed Aiden's help on this one, and she couldn't talk telepathically with him anymore, and it was out of question to talk to Norman about that, she sure liked him, he was a nice man and she definitely had been wrong about her first judgement on him, but she didn't trust him enough to tell him about her gifts  _ yet _ , at least not now, not until she was sure about Ethan Mars not being the killer, she'll tell him after being certain of her theory, even if that means revealing her secret, about her gift...

“Well...okay...Maybe I could help you working on it do you think?” He said quietly with his bostonian accent. 

“I think I should work on this on my own” She stated, quickly, in a kind of blunt tone, she hadn't meant to sound so aggressive, it was because her theory was about entities, Norman will think she's insane if she starts talking about this...

“Ah...” Norman looked a bit offended “I...I better let you work then, I got to study Ethan Mars's psychological profile anyway so I'd better leave”

"No, Norman wait, I didn't mean to be offensive I'm sorry” declared Jodie, having noticed her “colleague”'s hurt appearance “And you don't have to leave you know”

Jayden turned around 

“No I better leave and let you work, I must bother you anyway so”

"No you don't” Jodie cut him off “You know if you wanna stay that's alright” Aiden rolled his eyes and smirked at the whole situation.

"No it's fine we both have work to do and-”

"We can take a break, I mean, since I know you I've never seen you  **not** work so” she chuckled “You should really take a break Norman”

"I...” He was going to argue, but she was kind of right, a break wouldn't hurt him “I guess you're right...” Jodie smiled and gestured him to sit “Maybe you start by sitting then” she chuckled the profiler sat on one of the bed since not having any chairs in the room, a bit surprised by her recent change of behavior toward him, she hadn’t been like Blake, but she hadn’t been exactly welcoming either at first, he held a small smile back, being happy about this change “You uh, you want some coffee, Norman?

"Sure” Jayden and Aiden were both sitting in front of each other awkwardly while Jodie was getting some coffee ready

“Uhm...Have you ever worked on any strange cases?” asked Aiden, trying to get some conversation, he hardly ever talked with the agent:

“Sorry?”

"I mean did you ever see weird things in your work?” 

For a moment, he thought about the “things” that attacked him in his office back at Washington, but since he thought it was hallucinations, he didn't talk about it, not ready yet to talk about his problems with the ARI to anyone else...

“Not really, except one case I’ve heard about in New York, but I wasn’t part of it” he partly lied, before Aiden could ask more questions, Jodie came back with two cups and sat next to Norman, giving him one of the cups 

“Thanks” he took a sip and smiled “Taste better than the precinct coffee for sure”

"Really? It’s this bad?”

"Yeah, if you're ever thirsty there, don't drink that” Jodie chuckled at Jayden's words, he just gave her his usual little smiles, still looking a bit uncomfortable, he had never been good at small talk and usually kept himself away the most possible in social situations 

“Do you uhm do you think the origami in Mars's pocket is enough evidence?

"Can we talk about something else than the investigation please?” Jodie grinned

"Uhm sure but what do you wanna talk about then?”

"I don't know, you could tell me a bit about yourself” The profiler coughed a bit at Jodie's sentence “T...There is nothing interesting to say”

"....If you say so” Jodie took a sip quietly, having noticed how Norman seemed perturbed by her question

“How about you?”

"Huh?”

"How about you tell me a little bit more about yourself, the only things I know are that you're a former CIA agent and that you're quite smart”

"You think I'm smart?” She said smiling and flattered, not a lot of people have called her that, they more called her “insane” “crazy” “witch” and so on...

“Of course, and I'm glad to work with you on this case”

"Thank you then” They gave each other small smiles and took another sip, while Aiden was looking at them restraining himself to laugh at how awkward his sister and Jayden were

“Why do you two don't live anywhere in fact?” Norman asked mostly Jodie but Aiden as well.

"Well, my life and Aiden's one have been...a real fucking mess”

"But you don't have anyone?” Norman asked, looking back at Jodie “Family?”

_ “Wait, bring her back” A woman was screaming at the intern who was taking the infant Jodie Holmes away “I’ve changed my mind please! I wanna see her!” The lights around her were flashing as the now mother was moving hysterically to get away from the doctor's grips as they prepared an injection to calm her down “I want my child!” She kept screaming as the needle got in her arm “Please let me see her….” The doors closed _

_ “On the day you were born, a woman named Norah Gray, had a child in the DPA hospital” Cole Freeman, the man who had practically raised Jodie stated as calmly he could to her. The latter just stared back, waiting for more answers “Her child was declared….stillborn”. _

_ Jodie couldn’t help but look down to the floor, taking in what Cole had just told her… _

_ “A-And the father?” she eventually asked with a small voice “Did-Did you learn anything about him?” _

_ “His name was Jonathan Nichols, he died before the birth. Heart failure, that’s all I could find” _

_ “Where is Norah now?” _

_ “She was interned...in a mental hospital after she gave birth...according to her file she should still be there now” _

_ “My mother is locked up in a mental hospital?!” Jodie half yelled _

_ Jodie approached the woman known as Norah Gray, she immediately noticed she resembled her more than the woman she had thought to be her mother for her whole life (Susan Holmes). However, unlike her fiery-tempered daughter, Norah Gray was sat in a chair, stuck in a catatonic state. _

_ “Mom...It’s me...Jodie” _

_ Jodie kneeled in front of her and shook her hand in front of her face, trying to make the woman wake up somehow. then, with tears of desperation leaking from her eyes, she took Norah’s hand and put it on her wet cheek _

_ “I’m your daughter” Jodie said shakily. _

_ Still no response from Norah, the tears were flooding even more… _

_ “Help me Aiden” _

_ Jodie took her mother’s hands as Aiden helped them connect their souls, and memories of the mother came to the daughter...and unknowingly to the son as well. _

**_Norah Gray, younger had moved a drinking glass without even touching it, then smiled at the cameras, as the the then DPA directors exclaimed_ **

**_“Well done, Norah!”_ **

**_Another flash showed the gifted woman with holding her pregnant belly, smiling to herself, not hearing what the other people were saying_ **

**_“The mother and the father, both gifted, do you realize how important this baby is?!”_ **

**_Another memory flashed into Jodie’s mind of Norah sitting in a chair as the same voices talked to her_ **

**_“You won’t be able to Norah. Let us take care of everything” Norah held her belly, hesitant “It’s for the best you know that”_ **

**_“I want my child!! Please let me see her!” “Sedate her immediately!”_ **

**_Jodie then saw her own infant self, in the arms of her “parents”_ **

**_“She may develop some special abilities. Let us know as soon as something unusual happens”_ **

**_Another flash showed a memory to Jodie, Norah was sat in the same chair than she is now, sitting straight, her face unmoving_ **

**_“Increase the dose, make sure she never regains consciousness”_ **

_ The connection broke as Jodie cried  _

_ “I’m sorry” She kept sobbing “I’m sorry...it was my fault!”  _

_ Aiden however made a noise _

_ “What Aiden...what are you trying to show me?” And with that, her brother made the connection again between the mother and the daughter’s souls.  _

_ They both found themselves in what Jodie remembered as Norah’s own mind _

_ “Mom…” _

_ “My little girl…” _

_ Jodie tried to embrace her mother but was only met with air, Norah sighed as Jodie looked back into her eyes _

_ “I was so afraid I would never see you again...I’ve missed you so much Jodie...I’ve missed you so much…” _

_ “What-What happened?” Jodie sobbed “What did they do to you?” _

_ “The drugs they gave me...trapped me into this hell...there’s nothing...nothing I can do...just wait for it to end…” _

_ And it was her son who granted her wish...making her heart slowly stop...Norah Gray died with a relieved smile on her face... _

Jodie hadn’t realized she had her eyes closed now, tears threatening to fall

"Dead...” 

Aiden downed his head as well...

"I...I'm sorry” Norman muttered quietly, glancing at the two Holmes before hesitantly putting a hand on Jodie’s shoulder “I shouldn't have asked you”

"No it's okay Norman, you couldn't know anyway” Jodie smiled, some tears in her eyes, she wiped them quickly “The thing with our parents and childhood is...” Her and Aiden exchanged a look, thinking both about Norah, about their “father” Philip Holmes who constantly tried to beat Jodie, about the other children never playing with her (nor him) 

“...It's complicated” Jodie finished

“Can we leave at that if you don't mind?” Aiden asked, feeling sad thinking about what he had to to for his mother to find peace, his past, having only been an entity had had some perks...but being torn between two worlds, growing up with a sister he could never hug or truly play with...it wasn't something he wished to remember, now that he was alive.

“Of course, I understand” Norman said, giving a small sympathetic smile to both of them “I'm sorry you went through this”

“I appreciate that, Norman” Jodie smiled at the profiler, who took a sip, noticing she had a lovely smile

“How about you Norman? If that's not indiscreet”

“I've cut off contact with my family when I became a profiler, they didn't exactly approve of this...” He scratched his scar which Jodie noticed

“And how did you get this scar?”

Norman looked at her, then downed his eyes

“...I'm sorry I shouldn’t have ask-”

“One of my investigation went badly, I got this scar, my colleague lost his life”

“Oh god” Jodie exclaimed looking down as well now “I'm so sorry Norman, I-I can't imagine how hurt you must have been”

“You probably know this feeling? Working in the CIA, you must have made some friends there?”

Jodie stared at him, almost choking on her coffee 

“...Not exactly, I made  _ enemies  _ there”

“...Right...I had forgotten you had been-...anyway” Norman evaded the subject, not wanting to make her uncomfortable, but still frowned “You seem to lead a far messier life than I thought, no offense intended of course” the agent stated awkwardly, wanting to be honest with her and genuinely wishing to get to know her.

“None taken” she chuckled “I keep saying it myself after all” She looked away “Maybe I'm not made for a normal happy life...”

“You deserve one, after what you've been through” Norman was staring at her, some warmth having finally made its way to the agent's face, as he gave her a smile, which Jodie gave back with a small flattered, and unguarded laugh:

“So do you Norman”

The two just exchanged a smile while Aiden smirked, watching them, and a thought occurred to him: He was sure Jodie could trust him with their secret. The man himself seemed to have one...

Their conversation was interrupted by ringtone, it was Blake: They had found Ethan Mars.

* * *

The suspect had been noticed near an apartment in Marble Street, a woman had entered soon after Norman and Blake’s arrival, but they had assumed she lived there: however it turned out to be false as she tried to help Ethan Mars escape through a window, it was of no use however: the police forces had caught him, but found no traces of his “accomplice”.

They had of course taken him into custody, and both Blake and Norman were interrogating him, Jodie and Aiden were watching on the other side of the mirror.

“Fuck” the woman eventually lowered her head in frustration, Aiden looked back toward her as she paced around the room

“You okay, Jodie?” 

“No I'm not! We're accusing an innocent man for fuck’s sake!” she shouted at him

“How can you be so sure of that?! You've heard what his wife said and-”

“Exactly! I did! She said he didn't look like himself! His shrink said he had visions of dead bodies!” She approached her brother “Doesn't that remind you of something?”

Aiden stared at her, slowly processing what she said

“Ethan Mars would be….like us?”

* * *

“I'm not here to judge you Ethan” Jayden’s voice eventually echoed in the other side of the room, Jodie turned her eyes toward the scene.

“I'm trying to save your son, we've still got time, but not much, help me Ethan” He sat down quietly “Tell me what you know”

The man kept his head low, not speaking, Jodie noticed his dishevelled appearance as well as a bandage on his hand, and to her horror, she realised one of his fingers was missing, had an entity done that?

Norman sighed “I'm gonna lay my cards on the table, I don't think you're guilty Ethan, I know that sounds strange but…” He threw a glance behind the mirror, Jodie smirked at this. “...I have my reasons...But you have to help me prove your innocence cause the odds are stacked against you!” Ethan Mars was still unresponsive, Jayden threw a quick look at Blake who, leaning on the wall was beginning to lose the little patience he was capable of having, Jodie, sensing this, joined them in the room, which made the cop roll his eyes. Norman ignored this and got a folder out: full of the killer's victims’ pictures

“Look at this Ethan. Look at this!” His voice was more insistent now “Eight victims, eight lives drowned in rainwater! Do you recognise this one?!” He pointed to Shaun's picture, Ethan closed his eyes “That's your son, Ethan! Shaun! He is still alive! Talk to me, Ethan! Say something!”

A short silence followed...before the man spoke

“I kidnapped my son…”

Jodie blinked at this confession, and at this she felt a cold in the room

“But I can't remember what happened, I don't know where he is, but the only way to find him...is to let me out of here...I'm the only person who can save him” Norman hesitated at his confession

“You say you can save him but you don't know where he is...that doesn't make any sense”

_ Of course it doesn't  _ Jodie wanted to interject  _ Because he's not the one doing those things _

“I love my son” Ethan exclaimed, startling both Jodie and Norman “I love my son” he insisted “If you leave me here…” his voice broke “Shaun is going to die…” 

The profiler blinked at this, reflecting,  _ what if he was telling the truth? Perhaps they were facing a killer with some multiple personality disorder? _

Jodie kept feeling colder in the room, and she began looking around…

“We're lacking time Ethan” Blake interrupted their thoughts “And to be honest, I don't give a shit why you did it, the only thing I wanna know is where you’ve hidden Shaun”

“I don't know! I would already have told you if I did!” 

Carter growled

“Okay Ethan, this is your last chance: Where is Shaun?!”

“...I told you, I don't know!”

At this, Blake hit his face, Jodie was about to intervene but Norman pushed Blake away against a wall before her.

The cop then yelled 

“Come on asshole! I've been waiting for that!” He then pushed the agent, Jodie immediately punched Blake away, making him land against a wall. The cop having lost all of his temper pulled a gun out and aimed it at both Norman and Jodie

“Come on you two wanna play games?!”

“You're out of your mind Blake!” Jodie yelled at him

“That's gonna cost you your badge!” Norman stated as calmly as he could in this situation, Blake stared at both of them

“You'd better get the hell out of here, before I give in to the temptation to repaint the wall with your fucking brains!”

At that, it was Jodie and Norman’s turn to lose their temper, as the agent pushed the chairs away in anger and the lights kept flickering behind Jodie.

* * *

Aiden joined them once more in Norman’s “office”, after having asked ten times if his sister was alright. The profiler hadn't talked for a long while, which worried Jodie

“Are you okay, Norman?”

After another short silence, the man answered 

“Blake is convinced that Mars is the killer...but this doesn't make sense” Jodie had a little smile at this “His psychological profile doesn't fit, neither does the geolocalization” He looked up at Jodie

“And I can't see this father drowning eight victims before kidnapping his own kid” 

“Neither can I” Jodie replied, putting a hand on his shoulder “But who else could it be then? Do we have any other leads?”

He looked back down and sighed

“I haven't the faintest fucking idea” 

Aiden opened his eyes wide at the profiler swearing, Jodie didn't care and just threw a glance to Norman’s glasses that were slightly glowing blue

“Can I use that?” Jayden looked back up then followed Jodie Holmes’ line of sight: her eyes were on his ARI glasses. 

“No” He answered sternly, trying not to show his panic, this technology was already too damaging to him, he didn't want Jodie to suffer the same fate as him…

Jodie quirked an eyebrow up

“...Why not? Is it because of the super secret nature of the FBI technologies?” She smiled nonetheless “I'm a former CIA operative Norman, if only you knew what I had seen during my time there…” by the end of her sentence, her smile had been lost, the memories of the manipulations, the killings, the massacres, all coming back…

The profiler looked back up at her, seemingly hesitating for a moment, but he didn't relent

“I’m sorry Holmes” He only stated, finally putting the glasses on, Jodie sighed. The profiler then put one single black glove on as the Holmes siblings watched, the sister eyed her brother, both understanding what she was about to do… Jodie then looked back at Norman and eventually slowly put her hand on his shoulder, which made the agent jump a little

“Relax it’s just me” Jodie chuckled, Jayden didn’t say anything and just looked up toward where he thought Jodie was and gave her an awkward smile before staring straight ahead of him. Jodie closed her eyes and breathed deeply, she didn’t know if her gift would still allow her to do this without Aiden, and she had rarely tried to do this with alive people. Sensing no result, she sighed and opened her eyes again, and the sight around her startled her: she was on a cliff, surrounded by a bright blue sky, and Norman sitting at his desk, he moved his gloved hand and a small box appeared and opened itself before him, Jodie kept staring, eyes wide.

“Well, well” the profiler smirked, Jodie thought for a moment he had figured what she was doing until “Looks like there’s something new”

He was staring at a video recording, probably from one of the street cameras

“The video recording near the park from where Shaun Mars disappeared, I doubt there’s anything on it but you never know” the profiler spoke, not realizing that Jodie could see it as well, he then made a circle motion with his finger on the video, which then played itself in a very fast pace, Jodie couldn’t figure anything from it, Norman just kept staring until the “ARI” detected a car on its own in the video.

“A Chevrolet model corresponding the tire prints I saw a couple of days ago passed at sixteen two heading for the park and went in the opposite direction at sixteen thirty seven, that could fit the time when Shaun Mars disappeared”

“Could it be the killer’s car?” Jodie asked

“Quite possibly” the profiler answered simply before Jodie saw another “virtual bubble” appear next to the video recording, it contained a shot of the car seen in the video. Norman moved his hand toward it, then groaned

“Ah, pity we can’t see the driver’s face”

“That would be too simple then” Aiden tried to joke as he was left out, Jodie apparently seeing everything Jayden could see right now, while he could only see the agent randomly moving his hand at nothing with Jodie’s hand on his shoulder.

After having touched the car’s picture, information about it began to appear, Norman read it quietly, not realizing Jodie could read it as well.

**CHEVROLET MALIBU 83**

**Registration: BAK967**

**Registration date: June 3 1992**

**Owner: Phillip D. Campbell**

**Reported stolen**

**September 2005**

“The car was stolen...let’s see...A certain Jackson Neville was suspected of stealing it but the charges were dropped...not enough evidence”

“Do we know anything about this Jackson guy?” Jodie asked as another “bubble” popped up, a I.D card in it

“Give me a minute and you’ll see” Norman smirked, the gifted woman had to hold her laugh back as she could already  _ see _ . 

“Jackson Neville” Norman spoke again “Aka, “Mad Jack” involved in several cases of buying and selling stolen vehicles, considered to be very dangerous…”

“This guy might have provided the killer with a car” Jodie stated, not caring about Norman’s remark of “Mad Jack” being dangerous, he had no idea about who he was about to face…

“It’s a pretty slim lead…” Jayden eventually nodded “But it’s all we have for now…” He moved to remove his glasses, and Jodie removed her hand immediately as well. Norman then removed his glove as well before looking up at Jodie, who tried a small grin but all the man did was blink very quickly as his vision became distorted.

“Fuck...not now…” His eyes were becoming bloodshot as he lowered his head, Jodie stared at him

“N-Norman? Are you okay?”

His heavy breathes were her only answer as he began to rise up clumsily, she saw his nose was bleeding and began to worry even more.

“S-See why I didn’t want you to use this now Holmes?” The FBI agent stammered as he tried to reach into his pocket, finally getting some small bottle containing blue powder in his hand?

“Is that-is that a drug Norman?!” Jodie half yelled at him, not waiting for his answer, she snatched the drug from his hand.

“P-please I need it to-”

“No you don’t” She answered sternly as she held his shoulders steady “This isn’t a solution Norman. Whatever those glasses do to you, drugs won’t be a solution!” When all she got for a reply was a sigh, she knew Norman reluctantly agreed with her, she let go of one his shoulders as she began holding onto him, helping him walk more naturally.

“Aiden come on, open the door, we need to get him to the bathroom”

Aiden, still a bit shaken, took a moment before listening to what his sister said, and the three headed to the men’s bathroom which thankfully was empty. Jodie helped Norman stand near a sink, still holding him steady as he began frantically splashing his face with cold water, the gifted woman kept staring, worry on her features...Thankfully, Jayden’s eyes were starting to go back to their normal state and the shaking was subsiding as he made a sign for Jodie to let go of him. 

“T-Thanks Holmes” he finally looked at her, his nose wiped clean as well and his voice less breathy

“It was nothing Norman…” She smiled, however the agent wasn’t smiling back at all, his expression was somber “...What’s wrong?”

“...I wish you hadn’t seen me like that” Jodie sighed, putting her hand on his shoulder again 

“It’s the FBI’s fault, not yours” she stated quietly “Whatever your problem is I..I’ll try to help”

Norman just held her stare for a short while, then gave her a grateful smile

“Thank you”

The two of them just gave each other warm smiles before Aiden coughed

“Guys?” He was smirking nonetheless “Maybe we should go check on Ethan Mars?”

“Right, of course” Norman stated, a tad embarrassed, Jodie was still looking down as Jayden was already heading to the exit “Holmes?”

“...Just a minute I won’t be long” she said without turning her head, deep in thought

“...Alright...you know where to find me” Norman finally left the room, leaving the twins alone.

“You okay Jodie?” Aiden asked

“...Should we tell him?”

“What do you mean?”

The brunette finally turned to face her brother

“About our “gifts” “ She looked back down, hesitating “And about Ethan Mars having one as well…” Jodie was expecting Aiden to explode at her in anger...but to her surprise he didn’t, he seemed to be pondering the question as well.

“...I think we can trust him Jodie”


	6. A question of trust

The Holmes siblings were striding through the precinct, a determined look on their faces, something Carter Blake hadn’t failed to notice. The police lieutenant threw a threatening glare at Jodie who gave him back one while still walking toward where Ethan Mars had been left. Blake would have probably followed them if his superior, Perry had not come to talk to him.

“Did Mars confess?” Leighton Perry asked his longtime friend Carter Blake who moved his eyes away from the the Holmes who were still making their way to the interrogation room

“No, not yet, he lost consciousness, we’ll give him a break then we’ll get back to him” Aiden cringed when he heard that, Jodie either hadn’t noticed or was just too determined to listen to Blake’s  _ bullshit _ as she would say.

“He must be tougher than I thought” the police captain adjusted his tie

“Tough or not, he’ll crack, they all do”

“In any case, congratulations Lieutenant. You’ve done a fine job”

Jodie clenched her fist, she could hear everything they were saying, and once again, this proved to her once more that whether it be police forces or CIA, they were all a bunch of psychopaths.

“I’ve called a press conference, gonna kick off in one hour, I expect it’ll be quite an event”

“Don’t you wanna wait until we’ve actually got his confession?”

“No point, we’ve got him dead to rights. That’s all the press wants to know.”

* * *

_ “Ethan Mars is innocent” _ Norman thought to himself as he tapped into the microphone behind the mirror of the interrogation room “ _ He truly believes that he alone can save Shaun, what if he’s right?..I’ll play those odds, we’ve got to get him out of here”  _ His head rose up as he saw Jodie and Aiden enter the room, he was about to join them but Jodie threw him a glance, telling him silently to stay on the other side for now.

The policeman who was still in the room glared at the Holmes as Jodie was staring at Ethan who was indeed half unconscious, her heart ached at the sight.

“Blake said you two shouldn’t be here without-”

“ _ I’m here sir”  _ Norman’s voice echoed from the other side of the room through the microphone, Jodie grinned “ _ You can leave them be”  _

The officer kept his dark stare on Jodie

“Listen the lieutenant Blake told me to stay here”

At this, the Holmes exchanged a significant look

“You know what to do” the sister muttered

Aiden couldn’t help the little smirk as he stared at the police officer, his eyes glowing a slight orange, the policeman barely had time to see it before his head was thrown aback and his eyes became completely white, Jodie briefly looked at the mirror, knowing Norman had probably seen what was happening...She sighed, remembering Aiden’s words, but insecurity was still making its way into her mind

“ _ What if he thinks I’m insane?...He’ll just be another loved one I’ve lost” _

Aiden in the meantime had made the policeman leave the room and go all the way to precinct’s parking, that’s when he broke the possession, he took a hard breathe as his was slightly spinning

“Aiden you’re alright?”

“Yeah I’m fine...I’m more worried about him” He replied, looking down at Ethan Mars, Jodie frowned and crouched down as she put a hand on Ethan’s shoulder

“Oh my god, are you alright Ethan?” She tried to shake him a little to awake him, he briefly opened his eyes only to groan at the pain the handcuffs were causing, she looked at Aiden

“Do you know where the keys are?”

“Yeah, the other guy left them on his desk, I’ll go get them” on those words, he hastily left the room, Jodie grabbed Ethan’s shoulders and helped him up as he coughed in pain  _ “What the fuck did Blake do to him?”  _ she kept holding onto him until he got back on the chair

“I’ve gotta get out of here…” were his only words “I’ve got to save my son”

_ “I’ll see what I can do”  _ Norman’s voice echoed once more in the other room, he was about to get back in the precinct’s main room to get a raincoat to hide Ethan until he heard Jodie’s voice echo once more

“...I think I know why you see those things Ethan” The man looked at her with a frown, Norman turned back and watched the conversation, “ _ What is she doing?”  _

Jodie was now kneeling near Ethan “Your ex-wife said you had visions...of drowned bodies...is that true?”

Ethan just stared at her, taken aback both by her question and by the fact that Grace had been the one who set all suspicions on him.

_ “I...I sometimes have these blackouts...times where I don’t know what I’m doing...as if I’m someone completely different. The only thing I remember afterwards….” _

_ “It’s the bodies...the bodies in the water” _

**_Ethan felt like he was dreaming again...or rather having another nightmare...the room around him was no longer his house but a flooded room, full of objects he did not recognise, he could only hear some incoherent voices and echoes, and the water moving as he swam toward what he seemed to recognize as a child. He turned the human figure around, it wasn’t just a child._ **

**_It was his child: Shaun_ **

**_“DaAaAd”_ **

**_Ethan screamed as Shaun was slowly drowning in his vision, and another child appeared instead…_ **

_ Suddenly his eyes opened again in front of a bright street light. Ethan looked around, he was in a street he didn’t know at all, how did he get here? From a sign the neighborhood he was in was called Carnaby Square. He heard a train in the distance and turned around, panting, worried about Shaun. Eventually his panic subdued enough for him to look down in his hand…. where an origami figure rested. _

“...I already told your co-worker all I knew” Jodie sighed at his evasiveness and put herself in front of him so he would look at her

“I’m not here to judge you nor try to get a confession out of you…I’m trying to help you understand why you see those things”

That’s when he looked up, confusion on his features. The same confusion could be seen on the profiler’s face on the other side of the room as he kept staring.

“Some people are born with...strange abilities…” Jodie was trying to read Ethan’s face as he was still frowning with confusion “...I’m one of those people Ethan...and I believe that you are too”

“ _ What is she talking about?!”  _ Norman almost screamed out loud, was she trying to manipulate him into confessing something?  _ No, she said he thought he was innocent...and that she had her own theory on this _ ...Then she truly meant what she was telling Ethan Mars.

“I...I don’t understand”

“Of course you don’t” Jodie was now staring at a wall behind Ethan, her eyes had widen a little but she had kept her composure as a cold began to invade the room and the lights flickered a little “But  _ he  _ does” Ethan was about to ask her again what she meant but then followed her eyes...and saw a child, with a lifeless pale skin and soaked in rainwater, some sort of light was attaching him to Ethan who screamed at the sight and almost bolted up off his chair.

Norman on his side was gasping as well as he could now see the same black mist he had thought to be hallucinations in Washington where both Jodie Holmes and Ethan Mars were staring.  _ There is no way...They see it too...How? What is that thing?! _ ”

The profiler bolted out of the room to join them.

“Ethan please calm down!” Jodie exclaimed

“Calm down?! What is this thing?!”

“...An entity” She looked at the boy, he probably was one of the killer’s victims, and he must have bounded with Ethan to help him “It bounded with you Ethan, you have a link with him now”

“A link?! I don’t want him to stay!”

“You don’t understand! He can help you Ethan!”

“Help me?! How?! The only thing that matters now is Shaun!”

“Exactly! He can help you save Shaun! That’s why he bounded himself to you Ethan! He wants to help you save your son!” Jodie was raising her voice now, and Ethan Mars had stopped talking, seeming to think, he looked at the ghostly boy again before he disappeared into some sort of mist, but Ethan could still sense his presence somehow…

That’s when Norman entered the room with the police raincoat he planned to give Ethan, he threw a quick puzzled look at Jodie who lowered her eyes, not wanting to confront the possibility of Norman not trusting her anymore.

“Here put this on” The profiler stated, changing the conversation entirely “They’re having a break, if you’re quick, you’ll be able to slip out without being noticed” Ethan looked down at the cuffs still restraining him but suddenly they snapped open, still shaken by all that was happening, the now fugitive only said these words

“I..I don’t know what to say-”

“Just say you’re gonna save your son” Norman declared hastily, Ethan gave him a quick nod and threw one last thankful look at Jodie before leaving the room “I hope I won’t regret that…” Norman sighed

“I don’t think we will…” Jodie said in a low voice as they both exited the room to check on Ethan as he was leaving the precinct….

“What the hell was this about Holmes?!” Norman exclaimed, Jodie was cringing at his tone, but she would not let her feelings prevent her from defending herself.

“It’s all true Norman! You heard what I said back there! I’m one of those people as well! You saw Korda’s metal bar fly away when he attacked you! You saw what happened in my room yesterday!” The profiler was only staring at her, trying to read her, just like the first time they had met, what he had thought to be hallucinations from his part seemed to be something else…

As Norman just stared, Jodie’s frustration grew and her voice raised

“All of this, it was  _ my _ doing! I have some supernatural abilities!” Some tears were threatening to leak from her eyes now as her frustration grew more and bad memories resurfaced “I was born with a “gift”, or what the CIA called a gift, but it’s really a curse…” Her voice was lower as the screams were now turning into sobs, the agent was left not knowing what to do as the woman he had grown to admire so much was slowly breaking down in front of him “It made me the person I am today, a freak….someone who has no purpose…” She looked up at Norman who was now looking at her with regretful eyes “I told you my life was a fucking mess” she did a small chuckle among her sobs

“Jodie…” The agent almost whispered, surprisingly calling her by her first name, the gifted woman just kept crying and the FBI agent hesitantly put his arms around her. For once in his life, he didn’t try to overthink what to say, he just spoke what he thought of her

“If those gifts made you the person you are today...then I’m sorry but I disagree with you” Jodie pulled away with a frown “I don’t see a freak, but a remarkably strong and intelligent woman”

Jodie almost blushed at this, but her face was already red from all the emotions she had released anyway, the sobs had quieted down and she scoffed

“Do you say that only because I’m “Agent Holmes from the CIA”? “

“No” Norman was almost whispering now “I really mean that, you’re one of the most extraordinary person I know Jodie Holmes…” he wiped a lone tear away from her cheek as Jodie finally gave him a grin, the agent smiled back

And that’s when Aiden barged in the room

“Hey where’s Etha-” He stopped mid sentence as he saw Norman Jayden holding his twin sister in his arms. The agent immediately pulled his arms away and Jodie walked away a little, both embarrassed and Jayden being scared of facing an angry protective brother.

But the brother only laughed

“Sorry to burst your little moment-”

“Oh shut up” Jodie groaned pinching the bridge of her nose “We managed to make Ethan leave the precinct, that’s why he’s gone”

“Is that also why you two were snogging?” Aiden smirked

“We weren’t snogging!” Jodie exclaimed, blushing slightly

“That would be very unprofessional…” Norman coughed awkwardly, adjusting his tie “Anyway...now that Mars’s out of here, we should explore the “Mad Jack” lead” He hesitated a moment, considering that Aiden was near the door where he had hung his coat, the profiler was still unsure if the other Holmes was angry at him for having “touched his sister”.

However, considering the smirk fixed on the latter’s face, he thought he was safe and therefore moved to get his coat, he already had seen Jackson Neville’s address on his ARI file. 

While Norman was getting ready, Aiden was giving Jodie a knowing grin that she shrugged off by rolling her eyes and approaching the agent, acting as casual as she could

“So, we’re going to his garage? Is that it?”

“Where he stores his cars is actually a junkyard-” The profiler interrupted himself as he saw Jodie getting her leather jacket on as well 

“...What?” The latter eventually asked, as she put on a grey beanie while the profiler was staring at her

“You’re not possibly thinking about coming are you?”

“Why not?” Jodie shrugged off, even though she knew what he was about to say

“Weren’t you listening when I said that guy was considered to be very dangerous?!”

“And here I thought you knew I’m a former CIA operative, which means I can defend myself so-” She was about to walk out of the room, beginning to get annoyed, but Norman stopped her

“I can’t let you, this is way too dangerous, for both of you” He threw a glance at Aiden who had, as he expected, began to get angry

“We can defend ourselves,  _ I  _ can defend myself Norman-”

“I can’t risk you Holmes” The profiler finally declared, sounding way more desperate out loud than he had anticipated, Jodie didn’t say anything this time, seemingly touched.

And the gifted woman would be lying if she had said she wasn’t indeed moved a little by his protectiveness, however she didn’t appreciate being bossed around, even from Norman who may have had the best intentions in mind: She wanted to solve this case too,  _ they were a team _ .

But she didn’t insist

“...Fine, me and Aiden will go back to the hotel” She sighed in defeat as Norman tentatively gave her a small smile before opening the door, he was about to exit the room but Jodie Holmes grasped his arm, he halted his movements and looked at her, her brown orbs were staring directly into his blue ones

“Please just…” She rarely spoke this way, her voice was softer than usual “Bring yourself back, okay?”

“Don’t you worry about me” He gave her a warm smile as he finally left the room.

Jodie stared at him as he made his way out of the precinct, Aiden scratching behind his head awkwardly

“So back at the hotel yeah?”

“Yeah…” Jodie’s eyes glimmered as she smirked “I’ll join you later”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The scene in which Ethan has a vision of Shaun drowning actually comes from deleted content from Heavy Rain! :D Ethan was supposed to have visions linked to the killer which would add other levels and a supernatural element in Heavy Rain, but David Cage decided to remove it to keep the game realistic...(careful, there's big spoilers in the video) https://youtu.be/jxpdGB6Gbac   
> But since I added Beyond Two Souls elements, I figured I'd add this back, besides it explains a giant plothole in the game
> 
> Also, as for the dead child linked to Ethan...Well...you will figure out his identity in time :3


	7. The noose tightens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's mentioned past attempted rape in this chapter, it's the continuity when Jodie went to the bar in Beyond Two Souls  
> There's only some flashbacks and nothing too bad happens but still be careful if this can be triggering to you

The FBI Agent’s black car drove in the junkyard where Jackson Neville was, at least according to his files, working. He briefly saw the sign on the grate “Access prohibited. For your safety access on or around the Machine is not permitted” but paid it no mind, with any luck, he wouldn’t have to stay long. However, his instinct told him “Mad Jack” probably wouldn’t cooperate easily considering his criminal record, he had taken his gun with him, as an obvious precaution and a tube of Triptocaine in his pocket... _ just in case... _ As he stopped the engine, he blinked a few times, blurriness making its way into his vision but it thankfully faded away after a moment, now was definitely not the time. Norman was about to exit his car when he heard a small noise, seemingly coming from the  _ inside _ of his car, he frowned, but as the noise had stopped he just shrugged it off and got outside in the pouring rain.

_ “Goddamn rain, I’m soaking wet”  _ the agent stated as he stepped into a water puddle, looking up, he then sighed, thinking about Shaun Mars, he only had a couple of days, maybe less to save him, he hoped that he had been right about letting Ethan go, that he could save his son, he even hoped that Jodie was right: that the undead or whatever it was could help, at this point  _ any kind of help was needed _ . The profiler looked around, he couldn’t see Jackson Neville in his workshop and could hear the machine making its loud drilling noise nearby, he easily guessed Mad Jack was working and approached the car crusher, the man he was looking for slowly appearing in his line of sight. There was no way he could question him however with all that noise

“Can you stop that thing?!” Norman yelled, Jackson Neville’s bald head turned to look at the “intruder”, he eyed Jayden with disdain before relenting and turning his machine off. The muscled man didn’t say anything as he climbed off, his eyes still holding this aggressive look that reminded Norman of a bulldog.

“Norman Jayden, FBI, can we talk for a minute?”

Mad Jack quirked his eyebrows up and growly voice resounded

“I’m listenin’” 

“Can we go inside?” the profiler asked, in a calm tone as usual, even though the man before him was intimidating. The latter didn’t even answer and straight up began his way to his workshop, not even waiting for Norman to follow. The agent of course quickly caught up and joined the man in his workshop, both now sheltered from the rain, however despite the rain not making as much noise now, he didn’t hear the sound coming from his car. He couldn’t simply because Mad Jack was already eyeing him with suspicion, and Norman had to keep his calm and composure at all cost.

“I’m looking for the owner of a blue Chevrolet Malibu 83” Knowing he wouldn’t get any answer, he added “I don’t give a damn how the car got here, whether you stole it or not. I just wanna know who bought it from you”

The junkyard owner kept his “bulldog” look as he stared at the agent, un-phased

“Sorry man, don’t ring a bell” He almost smirked as he shook his head, before pointing to it with his hand, not holding the smile back anymore “I got a real bad memory”

“Perhaps I can help you to remember” Jayden replied, both hands on his hips, not impressed “If we find out that you sold the car to the man we’re looking for…” He stopped for a moment, attempting some bluff as he crossed his arms “You’re looking at some pretty solid time inside, Jacky Boy”

The latter just scoffed and chuckled

“You tryin to scare me with your big talk?” He threatened, approaching the FBI agent “I never saw your damn car, now take a walk” Mad Jack ended as he began to walk away, not even looking back at Jayden as he went back to his work.

Norman threw a useless glare at the man’s back before turning around

_ “I don’t trust this guy, I’d better have a look with ARI, you never know” _

However as he was about to take his glasses, he felt his nose twitch and sneezed, putting his face in both of his hands

“Bless you” A familiar feminine voice casually stated behind him

“Thanks” The agent replied out of reflex, then, his eyes wide turned around to see “Holmes?! What the hell are you doing here?!”

“My instinct almost always tells me to never follow orders” She smirked, shrugging.

“This isn’t funny Holmes” He approached her, grabbing her shoulder “This guy seems dangerous-”

“From what I’ve seen he’s more into big talk than anything serious”

“I’m the one being serious here!” The agent had begun to raise his voice “I can’t guarantee your safety here! You should have stayed at the hotel and-”

“Don’t you yell at me Jayden!” Jodie shoved his hand away “I’m way more dangerous than this guy thinks he is” she stated, her resolve showing in her voice as some lights began to flicker in the workshop, Norman looked up quickly then back at the woman facing him, and even through his anger, he couldn’t help but be impressed once again.

“Jodie Holmes…” The profiler began with a serious tone, the latter began to roll her eyes “You're a hell of a woman you know that?” Unexpectedly, Norman gave her a warm grin instead of staying mad at her like she had expected, she then happily gave him a toothy grin as she made a small laugh

“Well, we're a team, remember?”

“Couldn't ask for a better partner” The two smiled once more before Jodie looked around 

“Now, shouldn't you use your super high-tech sunglasses?”

“It’s called ARI, Miss Holmes, thought you’d knew that by now” Norman answered as he did as she said: putting his glasses on and his glove

“What does it stand for anyway? It’s an acronym right?” She kept talking as she walked around Mad Jack’s workshop

“It stands for Added Reality Interface” The FBI agent stated matter-of-factually as he made a small movement with his hand toward the floor, Jodie eyed him, suspicious, not of him, but of these  _ glasses _ this  _ “Added Reality thingy” _ , she wasn’t one of those technophobe people, but the woman had seen what advanced technologies could do, or were trying to do, she had seen the Condensers, those rifts, she had seen Nathan Dawkins try to defy death itself with the same kind of technologies.

_ “They only use it because agencies and governments want to take control of everything”  _ Jodie sighed at this thought as she still stared at Norman who was pointing his gloved hand at what she assumed were clues or hints he could only see with his “ARI”.

“ARI comment” The agent muttered, loud enough for her to hear however, he could record with them as well? “Traces of orchid pollen in the air inside the garage”

“Which means that the killer probably was here at some point” Jodie startled the agent once more as she approached from behind him

“Probably” his voice trembled a little before he moved away from her, kneeling on the floor to trace the it with his gloved finger, Jodie eyed him once more, surprised by his reaction 

_ “Feeling sick...got the sweats...hopes this works out alright…”  _ The agent didn’t want to worry her, but he could feel the withdrawal symptoms coming,  _ “It’s okay...I’ve got the tube in my pocket…”  _ He hoped he’d managed to take some discreetly while his “partner” (  _ “partner”  _ the idea of Jodie Holmes being his work partner still made him want to smirk) didn’t look. He did not want her to see him in this awful state again, once had already been too much. He shook those thoughts away as Jodie was staring at Jackson Neville’s work tools, a frown on her face, she could hear some faint echoes near them, with a prudent and slow hand, she eventually touched a small hammer and immediately her head jumped backward as she closed her eyes and saw flashes of Mad Jack working on a car with his tool, but then  _ knocking people out with it, then dragging a corpse away… _

“Holmes?” she felt a worried hand on her shoulder and immediately took a breath as her eyes opened once more, she blinked a little adjusting to the light again.

“Holmes are you alright?” The profiler’s voice was getting more and more concerned

“Yeah I’m fine I just…” The gifted woman gave him a significant look “...This guy’s not innocent…”

“Well I know...his criminal record is as long as my arm-”

“I mean it Norman” her voice was somber “Something happened here…” the agent frowned about to ask how she knew, but he remember what she had told him earlier, then gave her a small nod

“We’ll investigate some more then” He threw a glance at the bulldozer outside, Jackson Neville was still there “But we need to be quick and careful” Jodie nodded as she moved away from the table, too shaken by what she had seen “Did-did you find the car? I saw you on the floor and-”

“I did find tire prints, but it’s not the car we’re looking for” 

“Of course” Jodie couldn’t help but roll her eyes in frustration as she kept feeling some cold in the room, and  _ this was not because of the rain _ , she knew very well what that feeling was, and all she wanted was to get the hints needed  _ now  _ so both her and Norman could get out of here  _ quick _ .

“Hm, size six” 

“What?”

“I found some footprints, they’re size six though probably a visitor” he looked up and noticed they were near the table workshop, he then smirked and threw a glance at Jodie “A  _ recent  _ visitor” 

She rolled her eyes with a small chuckle

“Very funny, agent” she kept her smile on nonetheless, Norman gave it back for a small while before noticing some bright blue liquid traces behind her

“ _ Blood?”  _ He thought with a frown “ _ Now why is there blood here?”  _ He rose up hastily and made his way past Jodie

“Something’s wrong?” Her concerned voice rang

“I found some blood tracks along with footprints” He put a hand on her shoulder as he saw her worried state and walked with her as he followed the blood that the ARI was showing, Jodie felt colder and colder as they approached:

“The blood tracks lead…” The agent glanced at the floor again, noticing the blood was making its way to some acid borehole “...to the acid bath” as he made his way to it, Jodie suddenly groaned in pain, her face cringing and some light flickering, Norman stopped his “investigation” immediately and put both hands on her shoulders

“Holmes? What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine!” She almost yelled “I-I just need to...to sit down for a bit” she uttered, her voice low as she had begun to rub her temple and she was beginning to sit down on the ground nearby, the agent didn’t let go of her “Please Norman hurry, there’s something wrong with this place” His eyes could have given away his concern if she could see them through the glasses but all she saw was him nodding quickly and going back on his track.

Norman put one hand on a piece of metal covering part of the acid bath, but threw a last look at Jodie who was still in a bad shape, some sadness found its way to his features as he couldn’t help her, it was something only she, and possibly Aiden could understand...He sighed as he resumed the only thing he could do, whether to help the investigation or Jodie Holmes herself, he lifted the metal cover and saw not only acid... _ but a human skull. _

He barely had time to process what had happened as he rose up quickly, about to leave with Jodie, before he felt a gun behind his head.

“One of your cop buddies, askin too many questions” The bulldog-like voice of Mad Jack growled behind him “I had to solder up his little mouth”

That’s when Jodie’s voice resonated again

“Hey what the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Her voice was weaker than she wanted as she rose up a bit clumsily, she didn’t like this

Mad Jack only chuckled

“And you had the smart idea to bring your girlfriend too” the man began to search Norman to disarm him, as he found the gun he tossed it away immediately, Jodie was about to run to grab it before Mad Jack pushed the gun harder against Norman’s head as he stared at the brunette, smirking, Jodie stopped moving, altogether, she could hear her own heartbeat quicken up as panic settled inside her.

“Hands on your head, pig!” The damn bulldog yelled, Jayden obeyed, not wanting to stupidly risk his life, “ _ Let him talk...while I observe what I could use in this place to stop him _ .”The man however kept pushing the gun against the back of his head, something that made Jodie almost lunge herself against this piece of shit but the glare he gave her stopped her.

“Tut tut, you move, your boyfriend’s head explodes right before your eyes” He could see the fear in Jodie’s eyes despite her attempt to keep a calm appearance, with a side smile, he forced Norman to walk forward, gun still against his head

“I ain’t got time to be playing around with you, let’s get you outta sight and finish you off” Jodie was desperately focusing on any objects she could use to knock this asshole out but it was no use, her ears were still ringing and all she could do was make a few light flicker, frustration grew and she began to look around frenetically.

“And you stop fidgetin around so damn much!” The bulldog finally looked away from Jayden, staring straight at Jodie “Keep movin around so much and I’ll take care of your stupid ass first!” As soon as he had finished his sentence, something made him lose his balance, Norman had pushed a hook that was probably used to grab cars to push him away from him, Jodie took advantage of it and ran to get the gun. Her partner in the meantime had grabbed one of Mad Jack’s tools to get him even farther away, but it quickly backfired as the latter anticipated this and punched him in the stomach before grabbing him and tossing him on a car. Jackson Neville took a nearby metal bar and quickly tried to hit Norman with it, but the agent rapidly dodged every single hit the maniac had tried, making him able to get back up on the roof of the car as Mad Jack was still trying to hit him with this damn metal bar, but once again, Norman dodged it with agility and even managed to catch the man by surprise by pushing him away from the car, making them both fall off. However Mad Jack was quicker than him to get up, but Jodie Holmes was even faster as she lunged at him, throwing him into multiple barrels, full of what she assumed of car gas. Panting she helped Norman get up, her strength slowly reaching its limit.

Jodie finally stared at the man, Mad Jack, rage clear in her eyes

“Playtime is over” she aimed Norman’s gun at him “Now you’re gonna tell us about the man with the blue car!”

“Go fuck yourself in the ass!” was his only answer

“I’ve got no time to lose Jack!” Norman’s voice was full of anger as well “Now I wanna know who that car belongs to!”

“What you want don’t mean shit to me! I ain’t no snitch, you better lock me up now boy”

That’s when Jodie lost patience, and shot one of the oil barrels

“Damn! You’re out of your fucking mind you crazy bitch!”

“You  _ have  _ no idea how much I am, so you better stop  _ fucking around with me!  _ You have zero idea of what I am capable of doing, Jack” The lights began to flicker at her words

“As if a lil girl like you was gonna scare me, you’ll end up in my car crusher as soon as you try anythin!” Jodie was about to react but to her surprise, the usual calm and prudent Norman Jayden pushed his way past her and gave a hard punch in Mad Jack’s face which made the latter growl

“Ugh! Broke my fuckin nose pig!” Norman came back next to Jodie who was giving him a quick smirk

“Next time you insult her, she’s gonna blow a hole in your face! Spill! All of it!” Jodie gave another warning shot on one of the barrels, to make the message  _ crystal clear _ .

“Whoah whoah whoah stop enough!” The maniac Jackson Neville began, finally showing some fear “I’m startin to remember somethin” Jodie smirked and aimed the gun forward, intimidating him enough for him to continue “You...you be cool and I tell you the tale”

“I'll be “cool” only if you speak, Jack” Jodie clenched her jaw and gripped the gun harder, the bald man usually being the one to threaten and not the opposite slowly rose up, holding his bleeding nose

“I don't know nothin about the guy,” He spat. “He wanted me to get rid of his dirty car, get him a new one without plates, he paid cash and I ain't the questioning type. Said I was to get the word to a guy named Paco down at the Blue Lagoon when the car was done. But that's all I know!” The man began to raise his arms.

Norman Jayden and Jodie Holmes exchanged a look.

“We'll continue this discussion down at the station, you're under arrest” Norman began to approach him, Jodie still aimed the gun at Jack

“Don't even think about doing anything stupid”

Mad Jack once again made a bulldog-like growl as he rose his hands in surrender, Norman approached enough to be about to handcuff him “You have the right to remain silent, Anythin-” Norman’s vision began to blur and his voice grew higher in pitch, at this Jodie’s eyes left Mad Jack immediately, focusing on Norman, her grip on the gun began to loosen. The agent put a hand on his nose to confirm what he already knew what was happening: his nose was bleeding. A withdrawal crisis.

“S-Shit not now” 

“Norman?” Jodie eyed him with worried eyes,  _ no she  _ **_mustn't_ ** _ worry about him _

“Anything you say can and will be…” Sadly he couldn't even finish his sentence as the withdrawal symptoms were getting stronger, Jodie’s eyes were beginning to fill with dread, Mad Jack was chuckling 

“Hey...you look like you got a problem man”

Norman was ashamed to do this in front of Jodie, but if he wanted to make sure to arrest Mad, he needed to take one shot,  _ just one more… _

He began to reach inside his pocket, he could not even hear Jodie’s frustrated protests at this point, however he could feel her eyes on him, her worried eyes…

_ “You should be careful not to overindulge in you know what, It'll end killing you if you're not careful” _

The profiler had no choice here, if he wanted to neutralize Mad Jack, but as he found the Triptocaine tube, it slipped away from his grip and he desperately crumbled to the floor to reach for it.

“They let dopeheads in the FBI now! God bless America!” Mad Jack laughed as he began to approach Jayden, Jodie gave another warning shot

“Don't  _ fucking _ touch him”

Mad Jack only smirked before kicking Norman in the stomach, which made Jodie gasp

“Face it doll, you're dating a walking dead man now” in her panic she hadn't noticed Mad Jack throwing one of the barrels at her, she tried to dodge it but failed as it landed on her, she could normally have resisted or blocked it with her powers, but her weakened state only let her be knocked unconscious.

“Jodie…” Norman whispered in a barely audible voice

“Don't you worry about her, she'll be next, you” Mad Jack was standing right before him “I'm gonna give you a lil help for your dope problem, mister FBI boy” His foot landed on Jayden's face as he knocked him out.

“Permanently”

_ The profiler was slowly opening his eyes as he felt a violent shake, his head rose quickly, realizing he was locked into his car, handcuffed to the wheel. Terror in his eyes he glanced everywhere around him, trying to find a way out, as he desperately shook his hands in vain. That’s when he felt some glass cut him as his windows got crushed under a heavy hook. The car was being dropped into the car-crusher, with its owner, Norman Jayden in it. _

Jodie woke up with a scream, then took her surroundings, Norman was nowhere to be seen, neither was Mad Jack. She was about to get up but a sharp pain went through her wrists, she then looked up: her wrists were tied to the hook that Norman had used to distract that psycho earlier, with a metal wire.

“Shit!” She swore loudly as she looked outside, and saw part of her vision about to come true: Mad Jack had put Norman’s car into place and was about to get into his bulldozer. Adrenaline rushing into her veins, she began to shake her hands frantically against the hook, trying to break the wire. Seeing it was no use, the gifted woman looked forward: the table workshop was facing her, still with its tools. The lights began to flicker as a small knife began to float toward her. She smirked, despite her nose beginning to bleed, this place drained a lot of her energy: this Mad Jack had probably done a lot more than what was on his criminal record she thought as the knife kept loosening the wire, and eventually managed to cut it, finally letting Jodie move away and rise up.

With a quick wipe of her nose, she glared at Mad Jack, as the light bulbs around her began to explode as she walked near them…

Jackson Neville was laughing like a maniac as he dropped the car into the car-crusher, but as soon as he stepped a foot out of his bulldozer, he was met with a metal bar hit. This unexpected attack made him lose his balance and fall on the muddy ground, he groaned before looking up to see the same girl he had tied up earlier  _ How the fuck had she- _ his thoughts were interrupted with another hit. 

“You messed with the wrong people you piece of shit!” Jodie yelled, about to hit him again before Mad Jack’s caught the bar she was hitting him with and kicked her legs, making her fall. He quickly rose back up to his feet and kicked her back again, making sure she wouldn’t get up before he grabbed her, pulling her near the bulldozer, then pushing her against it

“You’re really startin to piss me off bitch!” He tried to push her head near the crawlers of his bulldozer, but as she put all of her physical strength to push him away, he also felt metal objects hit his head. They seemed to come out of nowhere, at least to him…

Norman Jayden had finally managed to shoot his handcuffs and been able to quickly move away from what was about to happen: getting killed in a junkyard belonging to a maniac. He got his arms and head out of the car and began to push himself out of it as the car was slowly crushing under him. Finally managing to go out, feeling the rain soaking his clothes again, he also quickly noticed Mad Jack trying to put Jodie under his bulldozer, and the objects flying in his face or against him,  _ she definitely hadn’t lied about having special abilities _ . However, this thought was cut short when he heard Jodie scream in panic, Norman quickly jumped away from the car, landing on a metal platform, groaning in pain, but rose back up to his feet as quickly as he could then strode forward.

“Stop movin’ around so much! Your boyfriend’s dead by now, what do you have left?!” Jodie had finally gathered enough strength to make a big chunk of metal hit Mad Jack’s crotch, he let go of Jodie as he yelled in pain and the woman hastily moved away from the bulldozer, pushing the maniac forward, near the crawlers instead, he looked up at her in fear as she held him there for just a lingering moment

“ _ Myself _ ” Jodie Holmes then pushed Jackson Neville forward, his crawler bulldozer catching a grip on his clothes, and killing him as Jodie made the machine turn itself on, crushing Mad Jack, ending his life, avenging all those he had killed, and the gifted woman could feel some relief flood into her, his victims were at peace now.

She looked toward the crusher and saw that the car had been completely destroyed, her relief had been short-lived, a crushed expression made it ways to her features instead before she felt a shaky hand on her shoulder and turned around abruptly

“Are you okay?” Norman asked her, panting, he was obviously hurt from the fight, some bruises on his face and his clothes were all muddy,  _ but he was alive _ .

“I’m the one who should ask you this!” Jodie exclaimed, the two didn’t exchange any other words, and just embraced each other. Norman kept staring at the traces Mad Jack had left, slowly fading into the mud, mingling with it and the rain, and the thought that either him or Jodie herself could have been this fading blood occurred to him, had she not been there.

“You saved my life, Jodie Holmes…”

She chuckled

“Isn’t that what I constantly do?” She grinned up at him, but his expression was still somber as he kept staring at the ground, the woman frowned as she gently moved his face to look at her reassuring expression instead 

“Let’s get out of here”

The agent gave her a small, but meaningful, smile, before letting his partner help him walk out of this hell…

* * *

Aiden felt once again like how his sister had described him long ago:  _ like a lion in a cage _ . He had paced back and forth to all the corners of their shared room, had splashed water on his face at least ten times and every source of light had flickered at least once, even in the hallway which had startled some of the hotel’s residents, but Aiden couldn’t help it:  _ He had felt his sister’s distress,  _ even if it was for a fleeting second. However, he had promised both Jodie, and Jayden, whom he was genuinely beginning to appreciate, to stay put. But his mind hadn’t stopped racing since he had felt this little tugging at his heart.

“ _ Fuck it, I don’t care if she gets mad”  _ The young man thought as he grabbed the denim jacket Jodie had bought him the night of his “birth” “ _ I’m not gonna leave her there, what if this Mad Jack prick actually got them-” _ His thoughts were immediately cut off when he opened the door to see his twin sister and Jayden getting out of the elevator. While the agent definitely looked worse, they both seemed in bad shape.

“What the fuck happened there?!” Aiden strode quickly toward them

“Well, that guy didn’t get the nickname “Mad” for nothing” Jodie simply stated as she didn’t stop walking toward their room

“And that’s all you’re gonna say?! I was fucking worried about you!” Her twin kept yelling at her, her only reactions were her eyes rolling as they both went back to their room and she let Norman sit on her bed, he was still wincing a bit and holding his back in pain, she frowned but the latter gestured to her that he would be fine. “I repeat, what the fuck happened?!”

“Jackson Neville was even worse than we thought” Norman stated calmly, “And your sister is not someone to cross with” he smirked and Jodie smiled back, Aiden on the other hand was still annoyed

“What do you mean worse?!” He saw the cuts on Jodie’s wrists “Did he fucking do that to you?!”

“Aiden just calm down for a minute-”

“You can’t ask me to calm down! You weren’t supposed to go there in the first place! I was fucking worried you wouldn’t come back Jodie, I  _ felt _ your fear!” Jodie just stood there quietly as she heard Aiden’s voice tremble for the first time, smiling she hugged her twin brother

“I’m fine Aiden, I’m back”

The raw fear in Aiden was slowly fading and being replaced by relief, the FBI agent, their friend, was smiling slightly at the sight. Eventually, Jodie pulled away, they still had a case to solve, had a child to save, she turned back toward Norman and sat down next to him

“Do you know anything about this Paco Mendez, Mad Bulldog mentioned?”

“Cause there’s another guy we have to deal with too?!” Aiden’s eyes widened as he put his hands on his hips, Norman Jayden, still holding his back, reassured them

“Mendez is no saint, but he isn’t dangerous unlike this psychopath. He owns the Blue Lagoon club, not the cleanest place either, but it won’t be as dangerous this time”

“So does that mean I won’t have to save you this time?” Jodie smiled

“Sorry to disappoint” The agent smirked, not realizing that Aiden was watching them both, holding a smile of his own back, however Jodie Holmes’s face was slowly distorting, as well as the rest of the room, Norman lost any traces of smile and blinked violently, hoping he just had some dust in his eyes, but of course, with his luck, it wasn’t, it was what he had first thought…

“Norman?” Jodie’s distorted voice echoed faintly as he felt her hands grip his shoulders, he must have been moving without even realizing.

“You okay, agent?” he also heard Aiden Holmes’s lower voice

“I-” The agent tried to fix his eyes only on Jodie Holmes, willing for his vision to go back to normal. But all that happened was his nose beginning to bleed again as he felt Jodie’s gentle hand wipe it

“Shit” the latter muttered then looked up to her brother “I need to get him to the bathroom”

“H-Holmes I’ll be fine” Norman attempted to get up, clumsily but he almost immediately fell back on the bed when the room became a forest full of red, yellow and orange-leafed trees. 

_ One last thing sir, you should be careful not to overindulge in you know what, it’ll end up killing you if you’re not careful, that would be most unfortunate sir _

The butler’s voice echoed in his head as he wouldn’t even talk anymore and could only faintly hear Jodie asking her brother for help.

_ All I need is to take some and the pain will go away… _

The temptation to just take the tube in his pocket was growing, but Jodie Holmes’ hands holding him up slowly made him gain some resolve again

_ I should resist...this is gonna kill me...I know I can resist _

He felt Jodie forcing him to move toward the bathroom, and as the room came back, he finally walked toward the bathroom himself, Jodie still holding him as he kept stumbling, he attempted to look at her as the room changed again, but not into a forest, the ARI forest to be exact, but into some entirely black room, with some small white glows and things moving in the dark, Jodie Holmes was the only thing  _ glowing  _ in whatever this place was, some purple aura around her. He couldn’t comprehend anything that was happening, and began to hear screeches, as he cringed in pain

“Stay with me Jayden!” Jodie took a firm hold of his face and made him stare into her brown eyes as he gave her a slight nod, and they kept moving, Norman’s vision switching from back to reality, to another…

Before finally he felt cold water running down on his face, and all of those visions faded away to let reality fall back into place.

The white tile walls of the bathroom appeared, and Jodie’s face was no more distorted and he could hear her voice clearly again

“Norman?” She called out, as she noticed his bloodshot eyes slowly going back to normal.

He was still shaking however, but the water helping making those withdrawal symptoms fading, and the agent, as much as he hated the fact that someone,  _ especially her, _ had seen him in his most pitiful and dirty state, he had to admit that Jodie Holmes’s soft eyes (something he didn’t see everyday) were helping him as well. With another thankful, and trusting look, Norman finally spoke again

“See? You saved me again” He tried to smirk through the pain, as Jodie laughed slightly, before softly wiping the blood from his nose, her hand however stayed on his face, hesitantly caressing his cheek as their eyes did not move...

But their faces however, were slowly leaning closer, and their eyes slowly closing…

“Everything's alright?” Their eyes snapped back open as they heard Aiden coming, his head peeking from the bathroom entrance

“Yeah, everything’s fine, thank you for the concern Holmes!” Norman spoke a little too loud for it to sound casual, Jodie had of course removed her hand when she heard Aiden arrive

_ “Dammit Aiden… _ ” She whispered to herself as she saw the FBI agent rising up and turning the shower off, she didn’t get up just yet as she glowered at her brother who shrugged with wide eyes, for once that he had not done anything wrong,  _ or so he thought _ .

“Here” Jodie blinked once as she heard Norman’s voice and saw him handing her a towel with a small smile

“Thanks” the latter smiled too as it was her turn to get back up from the bathroom floor tiles slowly getting wetter because of the water that had been running…

The men had left the bathroom to Jodie while she was getting changed and ready, since Norman had told her the Blue Lagoon was a nightclub, she wanted to make sure she’d look decent enough to not arise suspicion  _ but not either to be ogled at, like at that damn bar nor all the Embassies she had to go to when she was still part of the CIA.  _ Aiden was waiting, sitting on his bed as usual, every once and a while he would yell at his sister to hurry up already and the only answer he would get from her would be a shut up, which made him laugh. Eventually, Norman Jayden, having swapped his soaked clothes from earlier to...the exact same clothes but dry.

“How many of those suits do you carry with you, agent?”

“...It’s not exactly the same actually, this jacket is darker and-”

“It looks  _ exactly  _ the same Jayden” Aiden smirked, the profiler didn’t reply and just awkwardly evaded the subject 

“Is your sister ready?”

“Not yet, I keep ASKING HER TO HURRY UP THOUGH!” Aiden finished his sentence looking towards the bathroom

“FUCK OFF AIDEN!” was heard from the bathroom which made the agent chuckle

“Holmes, your brother has a point, time isn’t a luxury we have” His smile disappeared “Sadly…”

“Look, we’ll find this kid okay? We’re three on this” Aiden tried to bring some optimism to this situation “Besides who knows, maybe his dad will find him before we do, and all we’ll need is to find the killer so he doesn’t do any more victims”

“I wish I had your optimism…” After the agent’s response, Aiden just had the time to sigh before the phone rang, the two men frowned before the one Holmes sibling who wasn’t busy went to answer it.

“Yeah?...No I’m her brother, Aiden, you’ll have to call her lat- what?”

The FBI agent frowned even more, who would want to call Jodie Holmes? Beside him and Aiden, she stated no one knew they were even in Philadelphia…

_ Except… _

“Uh...sure, fine, okay...bye” Aiden shakily hung up the phone

“Who was that?” Norman asked, a suspicious frown still on his face

“The guy who directs the police forces, I forgot his name”

“Perry? Captain Perry?”

“Yeah, him, he wants me to come over at the police station”

“You? Why only you?”

“I have no idea…” The two men exchanged a worried look “Look, tell Jodie I-”

“Tell Jodie what?” The latter had finally emerged from the bathroom, her hair curled, some makeup on her face and wearing something a tad fancier than what she usually wore: a black and white tank top with matching black clean jeans and a well cut equally black jacket, the necklace of her mother still adorning her neck.

“Tell you that you look great sis” Aiden tried to smile, to evade the subject as to not worry her, he then turned toward Norman, a big grin on his face “Isn’t that right Agent Jayden?” he playfully hit the latter’s back who gasped a little, taken away from his thoughts

“I-Yeah, you, you look...”  _ Beautiful, stunning, amazing...  _

“You look great Holmes” he coughed, clearing his thoughts “So? We should probably get going?” He gestured to the door, hoping the faint heat in his cheeks couldn’t be seen, Jodie quirked an eyebrow up before chuckling and making her way to the door, grabbing her leather jacket on the way

“How do we get there though?”

“What?”

“Your car got destroyed remember?” 

“Oh, right, guess we’ll have to take a taxi” Norman stated as he too put on his coat as Jodie opened the door, and then noticed her brother hadn’t moved

“...Aiden you’re coming?”

“...Listen Jodie, the guy directing the police station called” He approached Jodie carefully, knowing full well she would get anxious “They want me to go there, I don’t know why they wouldn’t tell me more about it on the phone”

“Why you?” Jodie almost spat “What do they want with you?!”

“I don’t know” Aiden tried to calm her down, which was unusual for them, Jodie had always been the one to “ _ tame _ ” him back when he was...The former entity shook his head, refusing to remember this “Maybe it’s about Ethan, if they caught him back-”

“If they caught him back I’ll go with you” Jodie cut him off

“No, you two have to continue the investigation, I can handle this okay?” Aiden smiled softly, holding Jodie’s shoulder “Beside, you’ll know if I’m in trouble, okay?” his sister put her hand on his shoulder as well 

“Be careful Aiden”

“You too Jodie” The latter reluctantly pulled away, still gazing at her brother with a worried look, Norman turned toward Aiden

“We’ll join you as soon as we’re done with Paco okay? It shouldn’t be long”

“No problem Agent” Aiden smiled slightly

“Please, call me Norman” the latter smiled, as he was closing the door.

Aiden lost all traces of smile, whatever the police wanted, the fact that they wanted him and Jodie to come  _ alone _ without Norman wasn’t a good sign, he had a feeling that asshole Blake was again behind this…

* * *

The taxi finally stopped in front of a large building, the facade of it was more roundish and ostentatious, with a flashy sign of a lightning bolt and big letters forming the words “Blue Lagoon” on it. Jodie hurried off the taxi,  _ the driver gave her the creeps, _ as Norman paid quickly before getting out as well in the rain, even at eleven and half P:M, it seemed the rain wasn’t stopping, which means they had less and less time to find Shaun Mars... The two entered the club and Jodie quickly felt uneasy in this place: while she found the neon lights decorations and overall flashy rainbow atmosphere of the club rather nice, the strippers dancing around poles situated higher than the dancing crowd along with the DJ cabin, and the multiple couples thinking they were alone, almost having sex right at the entrance against the wall, made her uncomfortable, she slid closer to Norman

“What is this place exactly?”

“Supposed to be a popular nightspot” the agent wasn't exactly comfortable around here either “Closed three times: once for coke dealing, couple of fights...nothing special” Jodie quirked an eyebrow up

“Yeah coke dealing is definitely nothing special” she scoffed, he chucked 

“Believe me there have been worse cases”

“Yeah...I can imagine” a couple of men seemed to be already eyeing her form, she slid even closer to Norman, who eventually frowned

“You're okay?” He asked but when he didn't get any answer he followed her line of sight, three men were ogling her, with a glare, he took a firm in appearance but careful hold of Jodie's shoulder, protectively walking away with her from the entrance

“Thanks” She gave him a small smile as he let go of her shoulder

“You're welcome Holmes” he barely had begun to smile back when she interrupted him

“Are you gonna call me by my first name one day?” She was chuckling “I feel like Sherlock every time you call me that”

“I” Norman began flabbergasted “I'm sorry, I just didn't want to make you uncomfortable”

“Calling me “Jodie” isn't what's gonna make me uncomfortable, especially if you're the one saying it” Jodie grinned, the neon lights of the club making her eyes and lips glow…

Norman had eventually spoken again, his eyes having lingered on the woman before him a bit longer than he thought, he hoped he did not look like those perverts at the entrance to her now

“Right Hol-Jodie…” He gave her a small smile, Jodie was still smirking then began to look around

“So, where do we find this guy?” She stared at the dancing crowd “Not there I hope”

“The owner of the club meddling with his customers? that would be unlikely H-Jodie”

“What should we do then?”

“Try to find some people sober enough, or the barman, maybe one of them will know where Paco Mendez hides”

Jodie groaned and her eyes rolled

“Which means we have to traverse this “people mess” ?” Norman couldn't hold his small chuckle back, which made Jodie smirk

“Let's just...smile and act natural…” Norman stated, his voice unconvinced, he himself wasn't comfortable in a crowd, especially a drunk one, but they had no other options, at least for now

“So you want me to smile or act natural?”

The agent chuckled once more at his partner's remark

“Just...be your usual charming self Jodie Holmes”

The latter looked up at him

“Charming?” 

“Yes, charming...” Jodie smiled at this, and held back a laugh when Norman slightly looked away, embarrassed, they then both began their walk toward the dancing crowd, Jodie casually taking a hold onto Norman’s arm who looked down, jumping slightly 

“You told me to act natural” she was still grinning, which eventually made the agent smile warmly at her, as he let her get closer to him as they kept walking. Jodie kept eyeing the room, in case she  _ felt _ something about this place, when she looked up at the stairs she had a small shudder…

That's when a woman bumped into her

“Ow, hey!”

“I-I’m sorry” when Jodie saw the woman's worried brown eyes and her disheveled hair, she quickly figured something had happened to her, and a couple of images passed quickly through her mind, one of them echoing more than the others

_ “Maybe I can help you” the woman who had just bumped into Jodie asked someone, who seemed to be a man, they were both in a motel room _

_ “No one can help me!” The man turned abruptly, revealing himself to be Ethan Mars, his face was firm but slowly his features softened “Listen...you've already done a lot for me Madison…” _

The images had stopped there as Jodie was now staring at the woman,  _ Madison _ apparently before her

“...Are you alright?” Jodie asked, as Norman was looking at the scene before him, had Jodie sensed something related to the killer within this woman?

“I'm perfectly fine, thanks...but I need to go, quickly I uh” The woman closed her eyes and sighed, shuffling on her feet, an apologetic look on her face “I'm sorry for having pushed you, it wasn't a great evening for me and a friend needs my help, I really need to hurry”

Jodie kept her composure and gave Madison a small smile

“It's fine, go help him” 

Madison gave her a strange look but still made a small move of her head as a goodbye before hurrying back to the exit 

“What was that about?” Norman eventually asked

“...She’s just helping someone” Jodie just mysteriously smiled as she watched the woman leaving, knowing they had another ally among all of the ones trying to get in their way…

* * *

As Aiden was allowed entrance into the police station, having been recognised as a member of the Origami Killer’s investigation unit, he could not shake this bad feeling away, almost every cop was staring at him, even if they had their faces engulfed in sugar from their donuts. The closer he got to Captain Leighton Perry’s office the more annoyed he was getting at the stares, a frown was slowly forming on his face. As he was about to open the door a familiar, but not liked, voice echoed right behind him

“Holmes, hey”

Aiden rolled his eyes before turning around

“Yeah, hi ...I forgot your first name, sorry  _ Blake _ ” He did not even bother to hide the venom behind his voice, he disliked that man, it was close to hatred but not quite, and the latter perfectly knew that as well.

“Call me whatever the fuck you want” He began to approach him slowly, Aiden backed away and hit the door behind him  _ If that shithead tries anything I’m choking him...no I can’t do that...I’ll possess him and make him drown his own head in the toilet instead  _ He couldn’t hold back a small smirk at the image

“Something you find funny Holmes?”

“If you’ve got a problem with me Blake, you’ll have to take a number cause your boss called me and I’m supposed to meet him so” He didn’t finish his sentence and just turned his back to the other man, who was almost grinning

“You were supposed to,  _ with your sister _ ”

Aiden stopped all movement and slightly moved his head toward the police lieutenant

“...What about her?”

Carter Blake only stared for a moment, waiting for Aiden to completely turn around, smiling to himself he finally spoke up again 

“It’s just that me and Captain Perry wanted more information about you two. I know Jayden put you both on the case and he technically was allowed to do that-”

“So what’s the problem then?” Aiden’s voice was low

“Hey relax” the unbearable voice of the man before him almost spat “It’s just that we don’t need to have information about Jayden, he’s from the FBI, that’s all we need for the paperwork” He took a small pause, his voice lower “But you…” Aiden didn’t let his composure falter even though sweat was beginning to wet his beanie “We found almost nothing about your sister, well beside her being a former CIA operative and also a former criminal” 

“She never was a criminal Blake!” Aiden exclaimed, not realising that he was giving  _ exactly  _ what Blake wanted: a reaction

“If you say so...The charges against her were cleared by the CIA themselves after all so I can’t really argue with you about that” Aiden frowned, what did this guy want?

“Thing is...we tried to find information about you,  _ Aiden Holmes _ ...and nothing came up” Blake kept walking closer “Almost like you never existed”

Aiden still didn’t give him an answer nor tried anything, he felt  _ trapped _ , like he had once been, he began to have a hard time breathing as both memories from  _ before _ and the stress he was feeling now were affecting him.

“Almost like  _ someone  _ erased everything we could have found out about you and your sister”

“What?! Are you saying that-” Aiden barely had time to finish his sentence as he suddenly felt electricity run into his body: Blake had tased him, with one last look confused look, Aiden fainted and lost consciousness

“Yeah, I’m saying that, Holmes” He gestured to a couple of his coworkers to take him to the interrogation room.

* * *

Jodie suddenly felt a bit dizzy and would have lost her balance if Norman hadn’t been here to catch her, preventing her from falling

“What’s wrong Jodie?” Norman almost yelled, as the music around them was way too loud to his taste, when Jodie didn’t answer and only looked down, his concern worsened “Is-Do you sense something here? Or is it just the crowd?”

“No-no need to completely fuss over me Norman” Jodie said, a hint of irritation in her voice, as much as she appreciated his concern about her, too many questions at once in her state was never good.

“No need? You almost fell on the floor Holmes!” She sent him a small glare “...Jodie”

“That’s better” her head had stopped spinning, still some worry arose in her, something about  _ Aiden _ … “Is there anywhere we can sit down for a moment?” The profiler began to search the area and eventually found some seats away from the crowd, the neon lights not illuminating them, making it a more comfortable place for both him and Jodie. They both began to make their way through the crowd again, Jayden slightly pushing some drunks that were in the way, Jodie was following him promptly behind him, looking on every side, making sure no one would try-

“Hey! Never seen ya aroun’ before!!” Some man breathed his alcohol in her face as he grabbed her arm

“That’s because I try my best to avoid assholes like you” She snarled, pulling her arm away roughly as she quickly began to walk away, this situation awakening back old memories that she wished had stayed buried. However the guy was still trying to follow her, the situation was making her vision dizzy again, anxiety rising

“Take a fucking hint and leave you shithead!” Jodie exclaimed not even bothering to look back, before suddenly feeling two arms grab her waist

“Come _on_ _baby_ you know _you want to_ ” she once again could smell the alcohol, even more than before as the man tried to pull her closer, on edge she immediately pushed her elbows into the man’s sides which made him lose his grip and groan in pain dramatically

“Back off!!” She exclaimed, turning back to finally face this pervert, drunk or not, she would never allow someone to talk to her like that again.

“You fuckin’ bitch!” The man had begun to stride clumsily toward her, and a memory almost paralysed Jodie before she felt a familiar arm on her around her.

The agent was showing his FBI badge

“Try anything like that again and you’ll be sobering up in a pretty cell! You heard me?!” The man spat on the ground at that and walked away, leaving only a hiccup behind him. Norman, now sure this drunk had dropped any ideas was about to remove his arm from around his partner, but she immediately grabbed his hand, preventing him to do so, and he finally noticed she was slightly shaking. He didn’t say anything and just walked with her where they finally could sit down, Jodie was catching her breath

“...Is something wrong?” Norman asked, even if he could already guess the answer

“No I-I’m fine I just-” Jodie was speaking way too quickly and had barely let the profiler finished, and as she looked at him, she didn’t finish her sentence and just sighed “It’s just memories…Bad memories”

_ “Better be worth it” She muttered to her reflection _

_ “Woah I’m impressed” She could remember that man’s voice, as she still tried to lie more and more to deter him, but eventually, she could feel his presence behind her, as his hands finally put themselves on her skirt _

_ “Hey! Back off!” _

_ “Come on baby you know you want to” The gross man was slowly moving his hands up her waist, but Jodie had never been one to just endure, even before her CIA training, so she pushed him back roughly, hoping that would be enough, but to her dismay, he growled like an animal and pushed her on the pool table as she gasped in fear, the man’s slime friend had grabbed both of her arms to make sure she didn’t try to resist as his friend was trying to spread her legs, tears of fear and panic had already began to make their way on Jodie’s face _

_ Even as the lights around her began to flicker and the two men let go of her as she was almost hugging herself, holding her knees tightly against her, crying, as Aiden protected his sister… _

_ “I…. I just wanted to go out...be like everyone else for once…”  _

“...Fuck...I-I had no idea” were Norman’s only words, too shocked to find anything else to say, Jodie still had her eyes lowered, taking advantage of the fact that Norman was looking away to wipe some faint tears that had made their way down her cheeks. Eventually though, the agent with sad but sympathetic eyes looked back at her

“I’m sorry for what happened to you, you didn’t deserve this”

“It’s okay...It happened years ago now...It’s just...That kind of place is bound to remind me of some stuff…” Jodie still wasn’t looking at him, her eyes still stuck staring at the floor, eventually, the profiler hesitantly and carefully put a hand on her shoulder, and that’s only then that her eyes moved, they were glimmering once again, but for a different reason this time. They didn’t move for a while, before Jodie eventually closed her eyes as she leaned against Norman’s side, letting him hold her as she rested her head on his shoulder...

“Listen” her eyes still didn’t move “I don’t want this to slow us down, we have to find that Mendez guy and solve this investigation…” Norman didn’t move nor give her any response for a moment, seeming to reflect. Eventually though, he chose to rest his head atop of hers

“You’re more important than the investigation right now”

* * *

A door was appearing and disappearing from Aiden’s vision as he blinked, his vision blurry, and his senses slowly coming back to him. The sound of the same door opening as Blake made his entrance, his footsteps hammering in Aiden’s mind as he forced himself up and realized the situation: he was handcuffed, to the same table as Ethan Mars had been. Upon this realization he immediately tried to shake the handcuffs away, the thought of destroying them came to him but he was too weak right now, because  _ of that stupid taser-shit _ .

“Now now, those are expensive you know”

“Let me go you fucking piece of crap!!” A punch to the head was the only response he got.

“Let go someone who might be helping a serial killer? Not a chance pal!” Aiden stayed silent in both shock and pain for a short moment

“A serial killer?!” The latter eventually exclaimed “What is your fucking problem Blake?!” The man took a brutal grasp of his chin

“My fucking problem is we had the killer in our grasp until some FBI fucker brought his two accomplices in the investigation team” He brutally let go of Aiden’s chin who still couldn't respond properly nor had the strength to use his powers, beside after what Blake had just said, he thought it wiser to not use them as it would worsen this  _ paranoid psycho’s suspicions. _

“What does all of this has got to do with us?!”

Blake slammed his hands on the table

“Your pal, Jayden, he didn't cut the camera off when your bitch of a sister set Mars free!!”

“Don't you fucking call my sister like that!” 

The table had moved on its own, pushing Blake away as the lights were beginning to flicker. The cop brushed it off as he got angrier

“And you better stay in your place, Holmes!” He held out his taser “I'm the one in charge here, and there's no need to play the innocent guy, I already know you're guilty”

Aiden stared at him angrily and scoffed

“Then why are you wasting your time on beating me up? Don't you have better things to do in your stupid life?” He felt another punch, which made him wince and grunt, as some blood began to drip from his nose 

“Still the same problem: paperwork. I need a confession if I want to put you to jail, where you trash belong”

Panting, Aiden didn't answer 

“Beside…” Blake paced around the room “With Jayden being all lovey-dovey with your sister, she has him all wrapped around her finger” Aiden still didn't answer, rage boiling as his fists clenched

“So that's not him who will tell me where Mars is hiding” Only then did Blake turn around “If he's still alive that is” Aiden rose his eyes and Blake smirked as he approached him “For all I know your sister might have gotten rid of Jayden now that he's of no use to you anymore”

“Don't say a word against my sister!!”

“Why not?” That's when Blake's voice rose to match Aiden’s one “She used to work for the CIA, she must have killed before and there's a reason she was wanted for fucking  _ treason _ !”

“Stop it-”

“Or what?! Face it asshole!” He kicked Aiden down on the floor “Your sister is helping a murderer!  _ You  _ are helping a murderer!”

Aiden only coughed 

“Just tell me where Mars is and we can end this little game right here!” getting no response from the man on the floor, Blake kicked him again, and Aiden smirked

“Is-Is that all you've got?” He got another kick as a response which made him wince again

“Funny you mention that, that's actually not all I've got” Aiden tried not to lose his composure,  _ the guy was probably only bluffing _

“We already know where your sister and Jayden are, I sent some of my friends to go get her” 

Aiden in rage and panic tried to rise up but Blake quickly kicked him back down

“And with what she's already done” Blake casually continued “even her  _ dear sweet Norman _ won't be able to get her out of this situation” Blake chuckled “Hell who knows maybe we've got it all wrong, maybe she's the killer” The lights flickered again, and didn't stop this time, still Blake ignored it, but his co-worker in the other room didn't,  _ he remembered what had happened last time a police station had messed with a Holmes. _

Aiden’s eyes were slowly getting redder as his rage grew, and he was beginning to raise back up clumsily without Blake noticing, even if he was now facing Aiden as he continued his crazy talk.

“Either way,  _ Aiden _ , we've got you, now, you can play nice and tell us everything you know, where Mars is, whether he killed all of those kids alone or if you and your sister helped. If you cooperate...Maybe you won't suffer the same fate than Mars...or your sister” Aiden still didn't say anything as his dark look was enough of an answer

“Look, I’m sure you don't want this to end up  _ badly _ ” Blake insisted “All you have to do is talk, I'm sure you're smart enough to know when to-” The man didn't have the time to finish his sentence as two hands had suddenly grabbed him by his shirt.

“You don't know a  _ fucking _ thing about me you sanctimonious  **cunt** !!” His eyes were glowing red and Blake noticed in shock that the handcuffs holding the...the  _ beast _ before him had been destroyed.

“Get off me!!” Blake yelled, trying to push Aiden away from him as the lights around him kept flickering more and more, some of them crackling and he swore he could begin to hear some windows splitting.

“ _ Aiden” _ my name, know what it means, Blake?” he asked, with a dangerously cold voice “ “Fire” and fire means” he continued “... “ **_wrath_ ** ”” He looked at Carter Blake right in the eye “... **This is mine** ” All of the windows shattered and the lights exploded as soon as he uttered those words and pushed Blake on the floor.

* * *

Jodie splashed her face with water again, before finally turning the faucet off, as she hesitantly looked at her reflection. She had thought she had finally rebuilt a new life, but things were beginning to repeat themselves: her “gift” had barely helped, she still didn't know where or how to save that poor child from getting drowned and her memories were again getting in the way of the rare good things she had in her new life: Aiden, her brother, alive, given a chance at life by her side. Having helped Ethan Mars, someone like her, someone who probably had his burdens too.

And  _ Norman Jayden _ , the kind FBI agent who had seen both past her “CIA tool” and her “gift”, and still cared for her and had trusted her with his secret as well. She slightly smiled, as if she were honest with herself: Norman was the first person she ever had pictured a future with. 

She snapped out of her thoughts as she heard thunder outside, the rain had begun to fall again, which meant that time was getting more and more against them, the more it rained the less time Shaun Mars had to live. Jodie sighed, whatever future she had, it would have to wait, this child’s life was more important than the rest for now, that's why she had insisted (strongly, the man surprisingly could be stubborn sometimes) for Norman to go interrogate Paco Mendez despite her state and that she would go join him after a little stop at the restroom.

Wiping her face and throwing one last sad look at the rain outside, she then headed out, looking around her making sure the pervert from earlier was gone. 

But as she looked at the entrance she saw Ash, Blake’s infamous co-worker, and a group of police officers with him as he handed a picture of her to the bodyguard.

“Oh fuck!” She growled as she understood immediately.

The bodyguard pointed at her as she quickly looked behind her toward the stairs where she could see Norman Jayden heading into Mendez’s office, he could obviously not see what was happening from up there, and she had to  _ run  _ quickly. 

Which means she had no time to go talk to him, for what could very well be the last time.

“She's there!” She faintly heard behind her as two lone tears made their ways on her face before she ran back to the restroom, blocking the cops with a table she had moved, she locked the door behind her, and began to climb up to the lone window...

A small hallway seemed to lead to Paco Mendez’s office, probably here to reduce the noise coming from downstairs, it was lit by candles as Norman made his way toward the door on the other side

“ _ No news from Blake...I wonder what hole he’s crawled into...I hope Aiden’s alright if he saw him” _

He knocked, but got no response, he politely knocked once more but still no answer, his instinct telling him something was probably wrong, he opened the door, hoping not to find Mendez in the middle of any unclean activities. Thankfully, he didn’t, however, it was clear something had happened in here: the office was messy, a striped lamp was laid on the floor near the couch near a tube of lipstick. All of the lights were turned off, the room only being lit by a large fish tank against the wall, and a man corresponding to the description of Paco Mendez was sat on an armchair, his back facing Norman.

Considering he hadn’t answered when he knocked twice, and that no one else seemed to be here, the FBI agent didn’t even bother to call the man out and just turned the chair, and what he saw did not fully surprise him. Paco Mendez had been shot, right between the eyes. 

Sighing, Norman put his ARI glasses on, about to analyse the scene, when he began to hear some shuffling noises behind him. Discreetly pulling his gun out, he immediately turned around only to meet a large man completely dressed in black, even his face was hidden behind a black mask, lunging at him. The man pushed the profiler away on the desk of Paco before he fell off on the floor, groaning, the other man began to make his way out of the room but Norman, having quickly risen up, got on the desk to give him some push as he jumped on the almost shadow-like figure. The latter anticipated this and turned himself against the wall to make Norman unable to move, but it failed as the agent was grabbing and pushing at his nape, despite the man being taller and more imposing than him, the latter pushed him against the wall again grabbing the door at the same time trying to get out of the room but Norman kicked him away as he kept giving punches to the presumed killer of Mendez, but the man skillfully dodged almost every single one of them and eventually, he grabbed the profiler by the head and kept pushing him against the desk, trying to break his neck. But the profiler wasn’t one to lose a fight so easily (despite what Jodie kept saying), he gave the killer a hard punch that made him hold his chin, Norman took the advantage to kick him in the crotch to push him even farther away from him. However, the man noticed and quickly grabbed one of the katanas Paco Mendez used as decoration on the wall, and tried to stab Norman with it, but the profiler dodged every try and managed to slip his way past the killer into one of the armchairs facing both the desk and the fish tank, the killer dropped the katana and grabbed the other chair, throwing it at Norman who lost his balance and fell against the fish tank, breaking the glass into the process letting the water pour as the agent fell on the floor, he almost fell unconscious but struggled to find some strength and get back up, but the man had noticed that and kicked him back in the stomach, the agent groaned in pain once more as the killer finally began to leave, sure the profiler had given up, but he was wrong, Norman made one last move, grabbing the jacket of the man who quickly punched him away, not noticing one his pockets had been torn off. Norman fell back, seemingly unconscious for good this time, and the killer left the room

The profiler still had some strength left as he began to rise up slowly and clumsily, then a thought hit him.

_ Jodie could encounter this man _

“Jodie!” He exclaimed as he finally managed to rise up and quickly ran out of the room and out of the hallway, opening the door in a haste. He looked everywhere, down the dancing crowd and up to the stairs that led to the emergency exit, and he noticed that the killer was gone.

And that Jodie was gone too.

He growled and punched the stairs railing, as he turned back to the bodyguard, his eyes were filled with anger, but the guard tried to not make himself look scared.

“Did Paco know the guy who came to see him?” Norman asked as calmly as he could manage

“Sorry, I don’t speak  _ cop _ ” at that sentence, the usually calm agent grabbed the man by the neck and pushed him violently against the wall, glaring at him

“Watch my lips asshole! Cause I’ve got no time to translate!” He exclaimed, rage and frustration evident in his voice “Did Paco know the guy, yes or no?!”

The guard was now trembling

“J-John...he said his name was John...friend of Paco’s, always let him straight up”

Clearly that was all this idiot knew, so Norman let go of him in a harsh manner, and hastily made his way downstairs, pushing away the people in the crowd and then didn’t even hesitate to open the women’s restroom door and get in, and all he saw was an opened window.

“Jodie?!”

No voice, no answers echoed in the room but he refused to give up, and looked around the room, searched every corner and kept calling her, his hands shaking slightly. Eventually, he had to relent, she was not here. She was  _ gone _ . 

“Fuck!” He slammed his hands against one of the sinks, even as they kept shaking, and his rageful expression slowly turned into one of sorrow...

* * *

She had ran away for as long as her legs could support her and as far as she could get from the nightclub, the rain was still pouring down on her face as she turned around one last time, still panting, and finally noticed that Blake’s “dogs” had lost her. Jodie finally let herself wipe her tears as she noticed a gas station, she walked slowly, still exhausted from having run and using her “powers” to keep the cops away, to it and immediately noticed the phone which she reached for, calling the phone that was in her (former now) hotel room, hoping Aiden, or Norman would be there. As soon as she had finished tapping the number, she sighed with relief as she heard the dial tone and was about to talk as soon as she heard someone pick up, but she recognised the voice immediately

“Hello?”

That wasn’t Aiden, but  _ Blake _ .  _ Of course, they had gotten there before her, they had gotten Aiden as well  _ and the streetlights began to flicker as she violently hung up the phone. Jodie could not help it, and she began to cry again, kicking the wall before her and punching the phone-hanger. She looked back up, the rain still meddling with her tears as she took the phone again, tapping another number.

She anxiously waited, as she heard the dial tone, however, it was cut quickly

“ _ Norman Jayden? _ ” The voice on the other side of the line asked

“N-Norman?” She managed to say between sobs

“ _ Jodie! Where are you?! Are you okay?! _ ” His voice was more frenetic than usual

“T-They’re after me” she sniffed “They think I killed those people”

_ Norman didn’t answer immediately, but easily guessed what she meant, the phone call Aiden had answered, Perry, or should he say  _ **_Blake_ ** _ wanting to see both of the Holmes alone. _

_ “J-just tell me where you are I’ll-” He stopped talking as he heard a sob _

“I-I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I just wanted my gift to help rather than  _ kill _ for once” Jodie managed to say between her tears

_ “..I don’t know what to say” _ Jodie was sure she had heard a sob from him  _ “I’m so sorry for everything…” _

“T-This isn’t your fault, none of this is”

_ “It is, I completely messed up Jodie I-...” he sighed, trying not to cry from all of this situation, the killer had escaped, the Origami killer had escaped because he had been too weak to stop him, and now Blake had put Jodie on the suspect’s list as well, and Norman couldn’t think of anything but he knew that right now, all he wanted to do was to help Jodie Holmes “Just-just tell me where you are, I’ll come and get you out of this” _

“I-I can’t tell you, they might be already tracing your phone or some shit”

_ “I can’t just stand there and leave you out for them to catch you and put you to jail Jodie _ !” She had never heard him this angry before 

“Norman please I…” She hesitated for a moment on her words, before eventually speaking again, sighing “You need to stay away from me...for your own good...I've caused you enough problems”

_ “Problems?! Jodie you haven’t caused me any problems you’ve helped me! More than anyone has ever done!” _

“How?! Now your superiors will think you helped a fugitive! And Blake will probably be after you as well!” She cried “I’m a fucking living curse!” when her voice had stopped quivering, she spoke again “I'm sorry Norman to ask you this, but you have to stay away from me”

The agent didn't answer immediately, Jodie kept the phone at her ear as she could hear heavy breathing and some sobs

_ “I'm not giving up on you” _ was the last thing she heard from the profiler before he hung up. Jodie kept the phone at her ear for a small moment, still taken aback at how determined he seemed to help her, but eventually shakily hung it back, she barely had the time to wipe her eyes before she heard a car stop behind her, she hastily turned her back and saw a car she already had noticed in the precinct’s parking, she froze in fear, however, the person who got out was not who she expected

“Jodie!” 

“Aiden!” she exclaimed in relief as she almost threw herself in his arms, crying again “I thought they had gotten you”

Her brother hugged her tighter

“I’m the one who got them” he did a hollow chuckle, and Jodie tensed and pulled away

“What did you do?!”

“What do you mean “what did I do”?! I’m not the one who gave Blake this stupid idea that we were the killer’s accomplices or some crazy shit like that!”

“What happened when I was gone?”

“...Jodie I-”

“ _ Aiden _ , tell me what happened,  _ now!” _ Before her hard stare, Aiden lowered his eyes and sighed

“...He kept calling you a murderer and a bitch...I couldn’t stand it Jodie I...I completely fucked up”

Jodie sighed “You attacked him…” she wanted to be mad at him but couldn’t as she looked at her brother, he had  _ tears  _ in his eyes, this something she had never seen before,  _ Aiden crying _ …

And, almost like any twin sister would, she began to cry as well as she embraced her twin brother again as he mumbled into her hair “It’s all my fault…”

As soon as the taxi had stopped in front of the hotel, Norman ran to the entrance, and all he saw was Blake and some of his men leaving. The two men exchanged hostile looks, as Norman did his best to hold back his want to punch him. Blake just threw him one last glare as he told his men to leave the hotel as “they were gone”, before leaving himself, still staring almost judgingly at the profiler. The latter just shook his head, refusing to let his composure go before this man as he ran toward the elevator, and as soon as its doors closed, he slammed his hands against them, again, and again….

* * *

Aiden was driving the car he had managed to steal on his way out of the precinct, Jodie was leaning against him, both of them sat in complete silence, the rain tapping on the windows the only thing they could hear, remind them that they were now fugitives again, and that a child was about to die in less than forty-eight hours… 

Jodie moved her hand to wipe some tears again, something Aiden noticed, as he let some tears flow as well, kissing the top of his sister’s head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is one of my favorite chapters, solely for the funny bit of "Bless you" "Thanks" x)  
> Also yes, it's the continuity where Jodie goes to the bar in one of the chapters of Beyond Two Souls ><  
> (The "what do you have left" part is a reference to Buffy...)  
> (And yes the part with Aiden and Blake is a Skins reference, Tony inspired some of the characterization of Aiden x) )


	8. Rainfall and crossroads

The golden walls were reflecting a dim light on what seemed to be a luxurious bar, but the usual crowd you would find in these kinds of places was absent: all seats were empty except for the one before the piano.

Norman Jayden was sitting there, leaning against the piano, his glasses on, one hand idly tapping some notes, as he covered the music-sheet with his arm, his mind elsewhere than any song right now…

Eventually, another presence seemed to appear out of nowhere, a butler or barman as his appearance would suggest: he was wearing a vibrant red jacket that looked like a uniform with its badge on it and was carrying a plate with one glass

“Your vodka, sir”

“Thanks…” the profiler gave as a mere answer, not even bothering to lift his head or stop his slow tapping on the piano which had slowly progressed into a melancholic melody.

The butler stood there, still looking at the agent

“You look preoccupied, if you don’t mind my saying so…”

Norman still didn’t give any answer

“...Problems with the investigation?” The butler ventured, that’s only then that Norman slowly rose his head, heavy, probably from the lack of sleep.

“...Blake is convinced that Mars is the Origami Killer”

“Sir, I mean no disrespect of course, but surely for you to be in this state there must be more to it than this, afterall, Ethan Mars is away now…”

“That’s true” Norman uttered, and he swore he could have heard other notes being played on the piano, but he ignored it, and just sighed “...The killer escaped from me and-” He interrupted himself, more notes were being played that were not from his hand, but he again, ignored it “I lost Jodie and Aiden Holmes today… Blake suspects them of helping the killer, or worse, and Jodie is hunted by every cop of the city, and there is nothing I can do”

“Are you so sure about that?” a familiar voice slowly spoke beside him, Norman turned around abruptly to see  _ her _ ,  _ Jodie Holmes, _ a warm smile on her face as her hands were resting on the piano keys. Norman just stared at her as she just chuckled, pushing her hair behind her ear with one hand before beginning to play a more joyful melody than the elegy Norman had been playing. The latter just kept staring at her as she played with a smile on her face, eventually stopping for a moment, grinning at him, with an inviting look in her eyes, then with a small laugh she resumed her music. Eventually Norman got out of his trance and smirked as he joined her, turning the song into a duet, Jodie gave him a smile as she didn’t stop playing either, and the butler gave them both a polite smile as he listened to them.

Jodie eventually took the lead of the duet and Norman stopped to exchange a small laugh with her

“Forgive my enthusiasm” Jodie kept grinning at him

“I love your enthusiasm” Norman gave her a warm smile, as the two just stood there, lost in the moment, as Norman slowly leaned closer toward Jodie who was closing her eyes…

But what the FBI agent feared happened, when he reached for her shoulder, he finally realised he couldn’t touch her, his hand was going through her, all smiles disappeared as he sighed, and Jodie herself faded away, leaving an empty spot on their seat instead. Norman looked away, sighing and leaning against the piano again, trying not to let tears fall.

“Was this young lady Jodie Holmes?”

“...No...she wasn’t” Norman muttered, defeated

“...Sir, I’m sorry if my question is inappropriate, but is there something... _ special _ about this woman?”

“ _ Everything about her is special… _ ” Norman stated, without thinking at first then deciding to take time to reflect all of this, he knew he admired Jodie Holmes, he had admired her before even knowing her. And when she arrived into his life, he discovered who really was this famous, or infamous depending on who you asked,  _ Jodie Holmes:  _ a courageous, caring and empathic woman, who had saved his life so many times he couldn’t even count the times she had, and who had never judged him about his demons, but helped him fight them away instead... _ She was extraordinary.  _ He took his inspiration and started to buffer “I...I think...” He rose his eyes toward the butler “Jodie...I…” When the butler noticed he couldn’t finish this sentence, he smiled knowingly

“Ah...I see sir” His reassuring smile was still on his features “I am sure you will solve this case, this will save the young Shaun Mars and prove Miss Holmes’s innocence, hm?”

“...I suppose…” Norman looked away from the butler and the Jodie his subconscious must have imagined materialized again before him “...I told you this before...but I’m not giving up on you, I promise”

* * *

Aiden had been driving most of the night, hesitating between leaving town and never coming back again, or keep going and find a safe place. Jodie had fallen asleep for a part of the night but she was now stirring awake, slowly opening her eyes.

“...You okay Jodie?” Aiden asked hesitantly

“As okay as a fugitive could be” Jodie leaned back into her seat, rubbing her eyes, looking outside, it was still night, and still pouring. She sighed as she leaned against the window, looking at the range of trees they were driving past.

“This rain won’t stop now…”

Aiden frowned a little and quickly looked at his sister

“What do you mean?”

“...That boy’s gonna die, and we’ve got the whole police after us now” she looked back at her brother “Seems like even when I’m trying to help, I mess the whole thing up don’t I?” Aiden made an annoyed sound

“Don’t say that kind of shit, you’ve been saying it your whole life...none of this is your fault okay” He turned his eyes back on the road “...It’s mine” his sister just stared at him, some guilt in her eyes, she had constantly told him how she wished he had been out of her life, how her link to him had been a curse, only when they got separated she had realized how much he truly meant to her. Trying to be the stronger sibling, she held his arm, and did a small smile as he looked at her

“Self-blaming runs in our family it seems” she did a small chuckle, and Aiden eventually joined her.

Then looking back on the road, they eventually made out red and blue lights: four police cars were ahead, blocking the entrance of the city.

“Shit!” Jodie exclaimed then looked at Aiden “What are we gonna do?!”

When her brother didn’t answer, she grew more and more worried as they approached the cars, Jodie hesitantly put on her hood, hopefully hiding her face, she couldn’t see Blake himself anywhere nor any of the cops she had met, so with some luck, they wouldn’t recognize them.

Eventually, Aiden stopped the car when one of the policemen stood before him and gestured to him to do so. The police officer slowly approached the car, looking at its plate, but not noticing anything particular about it, so he approached Aiden’s window, who had moved his head away, hiding it a bit both in his hair and having lowered his beanie.

“...Can I have your ID please? Both of you?”

“...Why?” Aiden asked, half chuckling “Is there something wrong officer?”

“Well you see, we have three killers in town, so understand that we’re just trying to be prudent”

Another officer approached Jodie’s window and looked more closely which worried Jodie

“...Yeah, wow,  _ three  _ killers, big deal indeed, just-just hang on” Aiden turned his head away seemingly to the policeman, to get his ID, but he was instead staring at his sister.

The policeman who was at Jodie’s window eventually opened his eyes wide

“Go Aiden…” Jodie whispered, Aiden gave her a quick nod as he rose his head straight back up, staring at the road in front of him

“SHIT! That’s them!!”

“Got it all under control” Aiden whispered as he drove as fast as he could, pushing the cars in his way as all of the cops backed away.

“Fuck, quick get in the car! We can’t let them get away!!” The policeman who had checked Aiden’s window was ordering the others.

“Shit! Shit! They’re after us!!” Jodie looked behind then back at her brother who still didn’t say anything but just sped up which made Jodie jump into her seat and give him a glare as he just smirked while lifting his eyebrows up and down playfully, his sister just rolled her eyes as she kept looking behind them

“I told you, all under control” 

“ _ That’s  _ what you call under control?!”

Aiden smirked then quickly turned in an opposite way as soon as he could, Jodie held herself on the seat

“Holy  _ fuck!”  _ She glared at him again “I’m never letting you drive again”

“You don’t have much of a choice right now do you?!” 

“ _ Aiden!!  _ Be careful!!” she yelled as she noticed he was about crash into a dead-end, Aiden quickly turned left just before he hit the building and kept speeding up, and Jodie was now thankful that it was both raining and night, the roads were empty, she looked behind them once more and noticed that, while they were more far than before, the cops were still after them.

“They’re still on our ass” She turned back again as they came through a crossroad “Turn right,  _ turn fucking right!!” _

“Shut up Jodie!” he felt a small kick in one of his legs “Ow!” He threw a quick glare at her before doing as she had said and turned briskly in the right direction. The cars definitely had trouble following them, but they still managed, and eventually caught back with them.

“How close are they?!” Aiden half yelled-half asked

“Very fucking close!” Jodie exclaimed, Aiden just kept driving, while Jodie noticed that some cars were passing by, in the direction Aiden was headed to

“Aiden….” He ignored her “...AIDEN!” Her brother just accelerated, managing to avoid the cars, Jodie’s hands were gripping her seat as she gasped in fear

“Woohoo!”

While her brother seemingly had the time of his life  _ as they were running away from the police _ . She rolled her eyes as she could hear the car horns behind her and the tires screeching sounds.

Aiden eventually looked in the rear-view mirror, noticing the cops were still after them

“Jodie are you buckled in?”

“Thank  _ god  _ I am!” She exclaimed, irritated by the whole situation “Why?” She asked, suddenly worried at what her brother was planning again.

He hastily turned in a pedestrian walkway, which made Jodie gasp again, the cops stopped their car so suddenly that they almost jumped from their seats.

“Oh shit!” one of them yelled while the other was too shocked by what had happened, he eventually grabbed his interphone “This is police officer Ash, we’ve lost them, I repeat, we’ve lost them”

“Aiden! Watch out!!” Jodie yelled as her brother turned in yet another direction that led to stairs, but it was too late, the car was now driving all the way down as the siblings both kept swearing as Aiden was hitting his head on the ceiling of the car. Jodie through the pain eventually opened her eyes wide as she noticed a wall was waiting for them.

“Fuck!! You’re gonna get us killed! Stop the car!!”

“I can’t at this speed Jodie! We’re gonna crash before we have the time to-” Aiden stopped, as he thought of something, and looking toward his sister who was already staring at him, the same idea had occurred to them both, they didn’t know if it would work, but it was worth a try. They grabbed each other’s arm, nodding quickly before staring straight ahead of them, and as the wall grew closer and closer they eventually closed their eyes, not noticing that a blue force-field was slowly enveloping them, shielding them from any damage the doomed car crash could have done to them. 

As soon as they heard the car crashing, they opened their eyes again, and looked at themselves, they weren’t hurt  _ at all. _

“...We did it…” Jodie smirked as Aiden grinned and looked behind them as he exited the car, he kept staring “I think we lost them” he kept grinning then turned back toward the car door Jodie was opening “I told you I had it all under control”

“ _ Yeah, sure” _ she replied, rolling her eyes before groaning in pain, almost falling before she caught herself on the door

“Jodie!” Aiden ran to her, holding her “What’s wrong?” They both looked down to her leg, it was bleeding “...Shit!... _ Shit! _ I’m sorry!”

“C-Curse you and your driving skills” she tried to laugh it off as she tried to walk on her own, but groaned again as she almost fell again before Aiden caught her.

“We need to get outta here, before they come back” Aiden noticed a faint light sign that said “Crossroads Motel” “We’ll sneak in there for a moment, then we’ll have to head away again”

“Yeah, I don’t have enough strength to find a better idea than you right now anyway” Jodie chuckled

“Hey!” Aiden replied, feigning offense before seeing that Jodie was staring with wide eyes at something before her, he briefly frowned, following her line of sight and finally realised why she had this surprised look.

The same pale little boy they had seen with Ethan Mars, back at the police station, was standing before them, his clothes were drained in water.

**_“Please”_ his small ghostly voice echoed _“Please...you...have...to”_**

Jodie tried to advance toward him, Aiden still holding her

“We have to what?”

**_“...Stop...my...brother...he’s doing...too much harm”_ **

The Holmes siblings suddenly heard inhuman screams and screeches as they saw dark entities slowly appear before them, and began to charge at them. They almost collapsed as the little boy was still standing, with a worried look on his eyes, Aiden wondered why he wasn’t helping, when he was an entity, he would always push them away from others, or more specifically from Jodie, but the little boy only watched in horror.

_“Please hurry!”_ He screamed _“He’s making them angry!!”_ The pale boy faded into blue sparkles as Aiden and Jodie were left to try and fight the entities away, they focused again and managed to make the blue force-field they had used earlier reappear, which managed to repel the entities away.

The rain now being again the only sound they could hear, Jodie weakly looked around her, before almost fainting

“Hey, Jodie, stay awake okay? We’re near a motel”

“What...what did that kid mean?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care right now, come on!” He carried her all the way to the motel, the reception was right before the entrance with big windows and a lone motorbike parked before it, as he noticed that the receptionist was scratching his nose in an ungraceful manner then his butt. Aiden made a disgusted grimace before turning away, making his way through the plants behind the motel’s building, before stopping when he saw a balcony they could both access,  _ if Jodie could use her leg _ .

“Aiden...put me down” Aiden frowned. “Just do it, trust me” Reluctantly, he listened to his sister and put her on the ground. Jodie slowly put her hand on her bleeding leg, groaning in pain before closing her eyes, and Aiden swore he could see some faint pale green light coming from her hand, then going into all of her leg, The gifted woman hesitantly began to move her leg, then smiled as the pain had gone.

“Seems like you kept that one too” Aiden smirked, and still helped Jodie get up before letting go of her.

“So? You want us to climb through the wall like Spiderman? Is that it?”

“Reaaaally funny, sis” he pointed a big trash container which he then moved toward them with his telekinesis “Thanks who?”

“Thanks the trash” Jodie chuckled as she climbed up on it with no difficulty, Aiden rolled his eyes and followed her while she had already grabbed the balcony’s railing and pulled herself up on the balcony, she then lended a hand to her brother, helping him up.

Jodie looked inside the room, making sure that no one was inside, when she didn’t notice anyone, she slowly opened the glass door, gesturing for Aiden to follow her and get inside the room before she closed the door behind them. However, two screams startled them and almost made them jump.

“Who are you?!” The woman asked, Jodie squinted her eyes, and eventually recognised who this woman was: she was the one she had met back at the Blue Lagoon,  _ Madison _ , that meant they were…

The man who had been behind her eventually recognised them as well

“Wait Madison…” Ethan Mars looked at Aiden closely then back at Jodie who lowered her hood

“Hello Ethan” She hesitantly smiled “Been a while huh?” Ethan gave her a small smile, while Jodie noticed he seemed cleaner than when she had met him, and easily guessed that Madison had been helping him, and probably had been the woman Norman told her about, the one who had been seen trying to make Ethan escape from Blake on Marble Street.

“I remember you” Madison eventually said “You’re that girl from the club? How-How do you know Ethan?” She asked both Jodie and Aiden

“She was the one who helped me out of the precinct” Ethan answered instead, holding Madison’s hand in a reassuring manner “With her…” He turned his look toward both Aiden and Jodie “Friends?”

“He’s my brother...Aiden” The latter waved, smirking a little and saying a little “hi”.

“I see” Ethan kindly smiled at both of them then looked back at Madison “Don’t worry...they won’t do anything” Madison nodded, smiling and giving him a quick kiss which stunned both Aiden and Jodie as they exchanged a look before shrugging. Madison then approached them, looking at Jodie

“When I saw you, back at the club, I remember you told me “Go help him”...How did you know?” She asked “...Are you like Ethan?”

Jodie was a bit surprised Ethan had told someone else of his “gift”, as he had seemed confused and rather conflicted back at the police station, but she still nodded “Me and Aiden both are gifted...I’m the one who explained to Ethan what was happening to him” she threw a quick look at him, he looked down, just as Jodie thought, the man was still not ready to fully accept this, she could understand.

Madison nodded as well, seemingly more accepting and unfazed by this

“I don’t mean to sound rude or anything but, you seem quite unsurprised by all of that” Aiden eventually spoke his mind, which made Jodie close her eyes and sigh in annoyance, Madison only smiled

“I’m a journalist...I’ve seen a lot of things, believe me, it’s not the first time I encounter some paranormal events” She still smiled as she asked “You haven’t told me your name?”

“I’m Jodie, Jodie Holmes” Madison opened her eyes wide, then lowered them, sighing “I’ve heard about you...and I know what’s happening to both of you right now”

“What? What do you mean Madison?” Ethan asked

“The police, they think we’re helping the killer, aka  _ you  _ at least to them” Jodie answered instead

“Shit...I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to drag you all into this…” Ethan sighed, Madison put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him as best as she could then looked back toward Jodie

“Can-can’t that guy you were with at the club do anything? I’ve seen him with the police, can’t he do something to-”

“No he can’t” Aiden almost snapped, as he saw in which state those questions were putting Jodie who had her eyes glued to the floor, trying not to cry…

* * *

Norman Jayden was in his office frantically going through files and files, swiping and analyzing every clue that the ARI was holding in its possession. All the while he kept speaking his thoughts out loud

“We’ve got less than twenty four hours to save Shaun Mars! There has to be a goddamn clue somewhere!! It’s probably staring me in the face! This kid’s gonna die! Jodie is gonna go to jail! And I’m running around IN CIRCLES!!”

Norman out of frustration eventually sat back on his chair, removing his glasses, dark circles were under his eyes, showing he still had not slept, as he put his hand on his forehead, closing his eyes.

However, his door opened, as loud steps were heard approaching

“You let the killer go” Blake’s voice stated matter-of-factually

Norman looked up, hesitantly

“What are you talking about?”

“You forgot about the camera in the interrogation room, we got everything on film” He smirked “You and that Holmes girl helping the killer get away”

“Mars is innocent, he is not the origami killer”

“You’re lucky you’re not fucking suspended, as Perry thinks you got manipulated by those Holmes”

“You have absolutely nothing on Jodie Holmes!” Norman began to lose his composure, something Blake had almost never seen, it made him smirk.

“Told you, we’ve got everything on film, including her brother almost destroying the precinct and stealing one of the cars” He sat on Jayden’s desk “Face it, Norman your girlfriend is actually helping a child murderer” Norman quickly rose up at this, almost ready to punch Carter Blake right in the face for having said this, but he held himself back, clenching his fist, which the police lieutenant noticed again, smiling then getting back up, making his way out of Jayden’s office “Good luck on trying to get her out of this shit, when me and my men get our hands on her and her brother, she’ll have all the fun she wants in jail, trust me” Blake threw a bragging wink at the profiler, who clenched his jaw

“Blake...you are an  _ unbalanced, psychopathic, asshole!!”  _ Norman exclaimed in anger

Blake smiled and turned back

“I’ll take that as a compliment, but I honestly don’t give a shit about what you think, I found the Origami killer, everyone’s happy, end of story. As I said, good luck on trying to innocent your girlfriend” He finally left, chuckling. Norman, his composure completely lost, slammed the door open, leaving the room as he quickly headed to Captain Leighton Perry’s office, Blake noticed it, but only shrugged as he put on his coat.

Norman slammed the door open and immediately yelled

“Blake is completely insane! He’s convinced my assistants are helping the killer! You’ve got to do something!!”

The police captain just stayed on his seat, in a calm and relaxed pose

“The lieutenant Blake has never been wrong on a case before, I’m sorry Norman if I believe his says over your biased ones” that’s when Norman snapped and slammed his hands on the other man’s desk, which made him jump in his seat

“GODDAMN! JODIE HOLMES HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE KILLER, NOW LEAVE HER ALONE SO SHE CAN COME BACK AND HELP US TO FIND SHAUN MARS!” He yelled at the top of his lungs, nearly punching the desk of Leighton Perry again. The latter only stayed calm and spoke

“I really think we should get you out of the case Norman, your feelings for this girl are blinding you, she might indeed be helping the killer, or be the killer herself” The profiler stared at him and for a moment, with Norman’s bloodshot eyes, the policeman thought he was about to kill him, but Jayden just rose angrily and ran for the door, as he opened it harshly, but before leaving the room he muttered “I don't know what you're talking about...” when in fact, he  _ knew _ perfectly well...

He ran out for his office and slammed the door repeatedly in frustration and anger, leaning against it, he needed to calm down...Unfortunately for him, a withdrawal crisis attacked him, he needed Triptocaine once again, his vision was blurry, his hands shaking, he was feeling pain, he thought about resisting for a second, and even expected Jodie’s soft eyes to be on his again to help him through, but he was alone, he couldn't do anything for Shaun Mars at the moment, his lead about Paco Mendez and that John had led nowhere, and Jodie was gone...Being sure he'd never seen Aiden and Jodie Holmes again, nor save Shaun Mars, he took his drug, he wanted the pain to stop.

He blinked a few times as the pain was fading quicker and his vision cleared again. Norman sighed, ashamed of having indulged back in this, and the frustration, anger and sadness still there, he let himself slowly fall on the floor as he sat against the door.

Eventually, he heard his cell phone ringing, slowly, he picked it up and with a shaky voice, answered it

“N-Norman Jayden?”

_ “...Hey” _

His eyes opened wider, and his mouth opened slightly in both shock and relief at hearing her voice again

“Jodie…” He slightly smiled “Are you okay?”

_ “As fine as I could be right now”  _ He heard her scoff, which made him smile still even as tears had began to fall on his face  _ “...Please tell me you’ve found something about Shaun Mars or the killer” _

He sighed, holding a sob back, he took a long breathe,  _ which worried Jodie on the other line _

“...No, I-I haven’t” He stuttered “I’m sorry, Jodie”

_ “I already told you...it’s not your fault” _

“It’s not yours either…” The sob he had held back eventually slipped,  _ Jodie heard it, and held back her own tears _

“ _ Norman what’s wrong?” _

“Jodie I….” He took a long breathe as the tears kept coming “I miss you”

_ Jodie didn’t say anything, she had expected everything but this kind of sentence from him, he usually always kept his emotions in control. At this Jodie’s voice began to tremble _

_ “I miss you too…”  _ Norman heard her sniffle “ _...You said you weren’t giving up on me? I’m not giving up either” her voice sounded more determined despite her shaky voice _ Norman smiled briefly, but then remembered Blake’s words, that he would put her in jail, at this Norman broke down, and began to sob openly  _ which Jodie heard, but she couldn’t say anything, as she herself was holding back _ the profiler began to hold the phone close to him, before eventually he hang up...

* * *

Jodie had hung up as well, as Aiden had been holding her shoulder while she had begun to weep, Madison threw a look at both of them, while Ethan was opening the last origami figure, apparently the killer had been testing his love for his son through multiple trials contained in origami, that explained why the killer left the children alive for days: he was waiting to see if their fathers would succeed and how far they would go to save their sons. Jodie eventually whispered to Aiden that she would be fine as she sat on the bed. His eyes didn't leave his sister until he saw Ethan Mars tremble after having opened the origami

“You alright?”

“What?...Yes I'm fine” he looked at the origami again

_ The last letters 961 Rainbow Lane _

“Everything will be alright…” Ethan spoke softly as if to reassure Aiden, when it was to reassure himself that he would find and save Shaun, no matter what, he had suffered and killed for him, he could endure whatever was awaiting him next. Aiden eyed him strangely, as he could see a pale shade slowly appearing next to Ethan, the young man quickly understood what it was, but what surprised him was that Ethan Mars, who had the same gift as him and his sister didn't seem to notice…

“Are you alright?” Jodie looked up and felt the bed shift next to her, Madison was looking at her with kind eyes and, noticing the younger woman's wet cheeks, just smiled sympathetically and handed a tissue

“...Thanks” Jodie muttered as she wiped her face.

“...I'm sorry about my questions earlier...I was being stupid, reminding you that your boyfriend-”

Jodie couldn't help but cough a little in embarrassment

“He...He’s not my boyfriend” the other woman smirked at her answer

“Really? Because you two seemed pretty cozy when I saw you at the Blue Lagoon” 

“We were investigating the place, and we didn't want to look out of place”

“You're saying it was all just an act then?” Madison was still smiling, guessing easily there was something more going on between those two

“Yeah, exactly” Jodie looked at Madison who was still smiling in disbelief, and eventually Jodie sighed “ _ Partly  _ an act...I...I really care about him” The gifted woman was looking down on the floor, which worried Madison as she lost her smile and Jodie had stopped speaking, she hesitantly put a supportive hand on her shoulder.

Jodie in the meantime had remembered the things she had realized back at the club:  _ Norman has been the first person she's ever pictured a future with _

__ “...I love him” Jodie sighed as some tears had made their ways to her eyes, because that future had been compromised now.

Madison smiled at her, trying to be as reassuring as she could

“...I know right now...Everything right now is a mess, this whole situation is a mess, but it will be over soon” She threw a look at Ethan who quickly passed by Aiden to go to the small bathroom, which made her frown, he usually went there to take painkillers, at first she had only been wanting to investigate what this man, the father of the ninth victim, was going through, she wanted her article, but all of this had became almost futile to her when she saw all the pain Ethan was going through to save his son. She didn't care about having an article anymore or a book-deal, she wanted to solve this whole thing, discover who was the insane monster behind all of the suffering she could witness, whether it be in Ethan, or the Holmes themselves. 

“It will be over soon and we will all be able to move forward from this…” She turned her head towards Jodie “And you'll be able to reunite with him” she smiled again, Jodie looked up but no smile could be found on her features

“Every time I've tried to move forward with my life I’ve been pulled back again” Madison lost her smile, and Aiden from afar sighed as he heard this “I'm not sure there's any hope for me anymore”

“Jodie, cut it out!” Aiden suddenly interjected as he approached her “There's hope for you, for all of us here okay?!” Jodie just sighed, and Aiden put his hands on her shoulders “...You told him you wouldn't give up, start telling that to yourself as well” Jodie’s eyes had rose up to look straight into her brother’s eyes “There's always hope Jodie” He scoffed “I’m the  _ now living  _ proof of that after all” Finally Jodie began to chuckle with him, Madison just smiled even though she hadn't completely understand what he meant by “now living”.

“...You're right” Jodie slowly said as she got up “Thing is though, we have no lead at all, since the cops prevented us to see Paco Mendez” Madison emitted a noise of disgust

“You should be happy about that, that guy is a pig” She groaned again “You're lucky this FBI guy had been with you and that I had already taken care of him before you arrived”

“What does  _ taking care of him  _ mean?” Aiden asked a little horrified

“Gross! I didn't mean  _ that _ ! I've managed to get information out of him, he was the one who had rented the apartment on Marble Street where Ethan-...” She sighed “Where Ethan had to cut his own finger, because of one of these trials”

Jodie clenched her fist at this, what kind of psycho would make someone endure something like this, what kind of man would let a child slowly drown while their father was busy going through horrible, and possibly fatal trials? She needed to find whoever was doing this and make him  _ pay _ . Despite her thoughts, she stayed calm as she explained Madison

“Paco Mendez is also the guy who was supposed to give the killer his car, that's how we found him with Norman…” She didn't ask how Madison had gotten her information however, she had had glimpses of what happened that night when she had bumped into her, and considering how lewd and disgusting it had been, she preferred not to remind the other woman such memories.

“You got information out of him though? What did you get?”

“A name...John Sheppard” Aiden didn't let her finish as he clasped his hands happily

“We've got him!”

Both Madison and Jodie rolled their eyes as Madison continued

“John Sheppard is  _ dead _ , been dead for thirty years...however he had a brother who got taken away from his family, and then got adopted…”

Jodie looked away and an echo came back to her 

“ _ Please...stop...my brother” _

“...The killer is his brother”

“I came to the same conclusions”

“No, I  _ know _ he is…” she looked at Aiden who opened his eyes wide: the boy, the entity who had been linked to Ethan Mars had been this  _ John Sheppard _ all along, that's the little boy they had seen earlier, warning them and trying to reach them.

“How do you-” Madison interrupted herself when she saw the look the two gifted siblings were exchanging “...Oh” the woman lowered her head as her brows furrowed, in reflection, she then looked back up at both of the siblings “Is there any way you can...ask him who his brother is?” She rose up from the bed “We could have the killer’s name much more quickly like this, and then find proof to innocent both you and Ethan”

“It doesn’t work like that…” Jodie sighed “The entities only tells us what they know or what they want, we can’t force them to do anything for us” 

“I think this kid wants his brother to be stopped...but there’s a part of him that doesn’t want to hurt him, even with what he’s done, he still wants to protect him...at least that’s how I’d be if I was in his place…” Aiden lowered his eyes for a moment before feeling his sister’s eyes on him, she was looking at him warmly as she put a hand on his shoulder. The journalist just smiled a little and turned around as she heard Ethan step out of the bathroom, grabbing his coat, she sighed

“You’re leaving...Aren’t you?”

Ethan sighed as he kept his eyes fixed on the floor

“It’s the last origami figure...the last letters” Everyone was looking at him with sorry eyes, what was the killer going to make this desperate man do this time? “Then I’ll know where Shaun is” Madison approached him as she put her hands on his shoulders “Take care Ethan…” She leaned her head against him as tears threatened to fall from her eyes “I can’t lose you now”, Ethan turned around and embraced her as Jodie, hating to admit this, looked down, envy and sadness invading her as she again wished that Norman was still here…

**_“Dad…”_ **

Jodie and Aiden’s eyes snapped up and their brows furrowed as they heard a small, childish voice echo in the room, Ethan seemed to react too this time and pushed himself away from Madison, seemingly in shock over hearing this voice. Aiden looked back to where he had seen the pale shade earlier but it was gone. The non-gifted journalist who had not heard this voice had still felt a cold invade the room and she frowned, her eyes glancing at the three gifted people in this room, who were all looking up, seemingly searching for something, her quick mind was fast to come with an explanation: an entity was here. She trembled again as she hesitantly asked the others

“Is...is it John Sheppard?”

Jodie and Aiden did not answer, but Ethan did, his blue eyes threatening to let tears fall

“No...I know this voice…” The two Holmes siblings stared at him as a child appeared in a pale blue shade. The young boy who seemed to be not much more than ten was wearing clothes that were more fitting for summer or hot weather, and was holding a red balloon in one of his hand, despite being an entity, he was smiling up at Ethan whose tears had now began their descent

“Jason…” The father tried to kneel to hold his son in his arms again, but only felt air, Madison stepped a little forward toward him, pondering if she should support him in this moment or not, but she eventually felt she had no right to interrupt this…

She knew about Jason Mars’s death from two years ago, the child’s death had been in the local news, a child, killed in a car accident on his tenth birthday, even as his father had tried to protect him...

And had failed.

The child’s ghost put a ghostly hand on his father’s shoulder as he was now crying in front of him.

**_“I’ve missed you Dad” Jason tried a smile_ **

“I miss you too Jason, so much…” Ethan put a hand on top of his son’s one. Jodie witnessing all of this, was failing to hold back tears and her brother eventually pulled her against him to comfort her, Madison had tears in her shocked eyes too.

**_“I tried to find you before...but I couldn’t see you”_ **

Ethan frowned, before remembering what had happened at the Lexington Station, what he had thought to only be a waking nightmare, or some hallucination his body had created to help him pass the crowd.  _ Help him through the crowd _

Ethan threw a glance at Jodie Holmes, who had explained to him what had happened to him, he was not insane, nor had he some form of dissociative disorder. Jason had really been there that day, to help him. He smiled through his tears as he looked at his first son

“It’s okay Jason...I saw you...You helped me, you’ve managed to help your dad” a hollow chuckle came out of his mouth. Jason however was not smiling at all.

**_“What happened to me...and to Shaun...it’s not your fault Dad”_ **

The father just lowered his eyes as he began to cry again

“You don’t understand” He looked up at his son again “I failed to protect you...I failed to protect your brother”

**_“I do understand, where I am now, we understand things better than here” the little boy tried a small smirk “You tried to save me, but it was my time...But it’s not Shaun’s time” He stared into his father’s tearfilled eyes “You can and you will save him Dad, I know you will” The child threw a glance at the other persons in the room, silently giving them the same message, before smiling one last time at his father as he disappeared._ **

“No- Jason!” Ethan tried to reach for him as he saw his son fade away, but only witnessed him disappear in blue sparkles, more tears appeared in his eyes as he sobbed, still knelt on the floor, Madison kneeled beside him as she began to hold him and whispered

“I'm sorry Ethan...I'm sorry” she was herself on the verge of tears.

“He wants you to find peace Ethan…” Jodie quietly added as Ethan’s cries had eventually been quieted down by his determination to save Shaun, he eventually clumsily stood up, Madison holding him.

“You were right Jodie…” He turned his gaze to her “Maybe this...gift can indeed help Shaun…” He gave an hesitant smile “And help  _ me  _ as well…now that I know Jason is at peace…” Madison smiled at this sentence, while the Holmes gave him a smile as well before smiling at each other, reaffirming their determination to save this child, to help Ethan Mars and Madison Paige. The two gave each other a small kiss before Madison began to grab her leather jacket as she spoke quickly, knowing Ethan would try to argue

“I'll go get something to eat...whatever this maniac has planned for you, I remember in which state I usually found you afterward-”

“Madison-” Ethan tried to interject

“No, you're gonna need energy, besides I'm sure our guests need some stuff too” She smirked a little at the Holmes “Wait for me, I won't be long” She spoke as Ethan just gave her a small smile before she left the room.

“How-how did you two meet exactly? Cause last thing I remember is that you were divorced-” Jodie gave a small punch in Aiden’s arm to make him stop talking “Ow! What?” He didn't seem to have noticed Ethan’s embarrassed expression. 

“You don't have to answer Ethan if you don't want to, my brother just likes being nosey”

“Hey! I'm right here!”

Jodie only chuckled at his offended expression before all smiles disappeared from her features, a frown appearing instead. 

“What's wrong?” Ethan asked hesitantly

“....I don't know...I just have a bad feeling…”

“Yeah….same here…” Aiden muttered as he hesitantly approached the window and began to pull at the curtain before the phone rang, Ethan went to pick it up.

“Hello?”

“ _ Shit! _ ” Aiden yelled as Jodie ran to him, they both could see police cars outside, the other man hastily turned his head toward the siblings before hearing Madison’s voice from the phone

_ “The cops! They're in the motel! You've gotta get out of here!” _

Ethan hang up immediately in panic and hastily grabbed the last origami figure as well as his gun, or more specifically the gun the killer had given him, and ran to the window about to open it, when it opened itself before him, he threw a surprised glance at the Holmes siblings and saw Jodie running to the door closely followed by Aiden and just as the three reached it, the police officers and SWAT members kicked the door open, Ethan gasped in surprise but didn’t let them distract him as he closed the door back behind him and the Holmes. The three looked down the balcony Jodie and Aiden had escalated earlier, hoping for a way out, but noticed the cops had already swarmed there, holding up their firearms, Jodie reacted quickly as she looked on her right and sprinted past her two “partners in crime” then jumped to the nearest balcony with ease, she made a hand gesture for them to follow, Ethan was preparing to jump, not being a highly trained former CIA operative, he wanted to be as prudent as possible, but the other Holmes sibling had none of this and grabbed the other man’s arm as he made them both jump to join Jodie who, having seen the cops running to the balcony, ran and jumped to the next one, quickly pulling the window open as the two men joined her.

“They’re still on the move!” one of the SWAT members yelled “Get them!!” at this Ethan lost his balance and would have fallen if he hadn’t caught the railing, Aiden quickly grabbed his arms as their “attackers” stared at him

“They’re on the balcony!” The SWAT members left the “207” room’s balcony, easily guessing the way the fugitives were taking.

A man dressed in a bathrobe had barely left his bathroom before seeing a brunette woman run quickly past him and pushing the room’s door open, he didn’t have time to say anything before being pushed by two men following her.

Jodie Holmes looked to her left and saw the police car driving closer to the motel to reach them quicker, and four other SWAT agents running toward them, Ethan ran to the right, to the stairs before seeing even more agents arriving.

“Now what?!” Aiden yelled at both his sister and their “friend”, but he lost the need for the answer as he saw Ethan Mars begin to climb on the stair railing, he quickly frowned in confusion as his sister ran to do the same and help Ethan up, before understanding: there was only one way out, the roof.

As soon as Aiden had set foot on the roof, Jodie waiting for him while Ethan had kept running, he felt someone try to grab him

“Get the fuck off me!” he quickly kicked away the agent before getting up on his feet and resuming his stride away from the police with his sister, dodging a big wood panel in their way and catching up with Ethan. A door almost slammed into them as a SWAT agent stepped forward before Jodie pushed him back, unlike Ethan who in his surprise would have lost his balance if Aiden hadn’t grabbed his arm and pulled him along once more as they needed to jump down to another part of the rooftops, Jodie eventually heard a helicopter hover them as more police officers made their way to them, trying to form a barrage, some got bold enough to try and forcefully grab her but her strength outmatched them as she pushed them away, eventually she felt a forceful grip on her arm and turned quickly around to give a hard punch to  _ her brother _

“Ow!!” 

“Shit, sorry, with all those fucking cops around-” She yelled quickly as Aiden helped her up a small metallic railing

“Wow! Big news here, I hadn’t noticed we were being fucking chased! Come on!” Jodie glared at him quickly before running past him. The three kept running away even as the cops and SWAT members tried to reach them, they always managed to outrun them until Ethan Mars suddenly stopped, gasping in fear: they had reached the roof’s end and it was way too high to jump.

The three, panting, looked around before the bright light of the helicopter almost blinded them as Ethan rose his hands to shield his eyes.

“It’s over” A familiar face stepped forward, Carter Blake, gun in hand “On your knees, hands behind your head” His eyes were dark with anger as he kept his stare at them and gripped his gun tighter at the sight of the Holmes, Ethan in fear had risen his hands, making sure he wouldn’t get shot, while Jodie and Aiden slowly rose their hands and arms as well, their faces stern, having already thought of a way out…

Ethan tried to step backward, and almost fell off, gasping again in fear of heights, Blake’s eyes quickly went to him as the Holmes took advantage of this to get closer to the edge, beside the other cops and SWAT agents aiming their guns at them as well.

“Easy pal” Blake addressed Ethan Mars with disdain “There’s nowhere to go, you’re surrounded” The other man’s face was showing fear before he caught a glimpse of a small shade appearing behind the cops, it was the same child he had seen at the police station. He threw a quick glance at Jodie and her eyes confirmed she and Aiden could see him too, she did a small nod, knowing the soul of John Sheppard would help them. Ethan Mars’ face no longer showed any fear much to Blake’s surprise, which grew when Ethan Mars let himself fall off the ledge, his arms held out as the twins hastily grabbed each other’s arms before taking the leap as well.

“Holy fuck!!” Blake yelled as he saw some blue “force-shield” barrier surround all of the suspects as they landed on the ground, all unharmed despite the height.

Ethan quickly got back on the road before turning back to see Jodie Holmes panting, her face paler and her nose slightly bleeding, her brother wasn’t in a much better state

“Go Ethan! We’ll find our way!” Jodie yelled as she held herself against a wall, looking up to see Blake running away from the roof, obviously on his way to catch up to them.

“I can’t-” Mars begun before being interrupted by the other Holmes twin

“Just go! We’ll be fine! Find your son!” Ethan stared quietly at Aiden, then Jodie, before nodding at both of them and running, conveniently toward a taxi that was on its way. He rose his arm and as soon the taxi stopped and the driver began to open the door, Ethan pulled him away from it, ignoring his yelling as he quickly got in the taxi and drove fast away from the motel, looking back behind him, both making sure that the police wasn’t there, and right when he had turned his look, he saw a motorbike quickly stop in front of the two Holmes…

Jodie frowned before hearing the familiar voice of Madison Paige

“Come on! they’re coming!” she gestured to two helmets she had probably managed to steal from the cops, the twins hastily put them on while taking a seat on Madison’s motorbike behind her. As soon as they were securely seated, and that Carter Blake had ran past them without recognizing any of them, she drove away the Holmes twins with her.

Blake ignored the other vehicle and just saw the taxi driving too far for him to see it clearly and too far to get its plates’ numbers, a frustrated and furious look was on his face as his co-workers ran to join him.

A small smile sneaked its way on Ethan’s face as he saw that the Holmes were now safe, he kept on driving as he put the last origami figure in his pocket. It was the last trial, the last thing he would have to do to find out where his son was.

_ The last letters _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's Madison! (Who mentions some events of another game ;))
> 
> (Yes the piano scene is totally a reference of Corpse Bride, shh)  
> (HOWEVER, the fact that Norman constantly calls Jodie "extraordinary" isn't a reference to Umbrella Academy and Vanya...Well, I mean it could be, but I wrote those chapters waaaaay before Umbrella Academy got released/announced soo...XD)


	9. The last puzzle

Jayden had opened the door of his office with a slightly shaky hand as he heard commotion outside of the room. He quickly put his Triptocaine tube back in his pocket, an ashamed look briefly crossed his face before he left the room, anxiety surging, as he saw Carter Blake enter the precinct, he knew he had been chasing and searching for Ethan Mars, Aiden and  _ Jodie _ all night, and he dreaded he had found them. However, his fear was tamed as he noticed the man’s furious state and that Jodie was nowhere to be seen, they had managed to escape him and his coworkers.

“I want you to locate that fucking taxi he stole quickly got it?!”

“Right away lieutenant!” one of his men ran to a computer as Blake threw his coat on his office chair with a big huff. His friend, Ash, hesitantly looked at him before finally deciding to ask

“What about the Holmes?”

“They fucking vanished Ash! I haven’t got a fucking clue where they could be! Go ask the motel director! Maybe they’re still there for all we know!” Ash didn’t reply and just nodded as he left, Blake slammed his hands on his desk as he tried to regain some composure, he eventually noticed Norman staring and some bravado came back to him as he smirked.

“All packed up and ready to go?”

The profiler frowned in confusion

“What are you talking about?”

“The investigation is over, we know who did it, we no longer need your services anymore Norman. Perry finally figured out that you were useless and suspended you from the case, so you can ride your files all the way back to Washington!” He leaned closer to stare at the other man “I’d be lying if I said I was gonna miss you”

Norman Jayden would have usually been calmer, but with this whole situation, the real killer still out there, Shaun Mars about to die in a few hours if not saved, the lack of sleep, and the fact that Jodie was chased by every cop in the state put him more on edge than usual.

That and, as ashamed he was, the Triptocaine had its part in his agitation as well.

“The investigation isn’t over” Norman huffed “You’ve got nothing on Mars”

“I thought we already had this conversation Jayden, we got everything on film”

“What you have is nothing! There’s nothing on your video that shows evidence of Mars being the Origami Killer!” The agent’s voice began to rise both in tone and in anger

“I have a fucking video of Aiden Holmes destroying the precinct! And another one of him and his sister busting Mars out!” Blake rose his hands and slowly approached Norman “And I think you forgot you’re on that video too, which means you’re on a ejectable seat  _ Norman _ ”

“You’ll be the one ending up suspended or in jail with your methods and what you did when I find out who the real killer is  _ Blake!  _ Ethan Mars is innocent!”

“And how about your pal Aiden then?! How do you explain his reaction!”

“You beat him all night to provoke him!!” Jayden suddenly exclaimed, something that surprised a couple of cops around them, not used to this usual quiet and almost “invisible” FBI profiler losing his temper “He would have done far worse had he spent more time with you! Your proof is nothing more than a pile of  _ shit!! _ ” As he yelled the three last words, it was the cop’s turn to lose his already fragile temper

“Watch your fucking mouth Norman, if you-”

“Ethan Mars is  _ not  _ the Origami Killer” Norman interrupted him, unwilling to let him finish what he was about to say “And neither he or Aiden Holmes have nothing to do with the disappearance of Shaun Mars! We have lost time for nothing, and all that time, it continues to rain! According to the weather forecast we’ve got less than ten hours to save Shaun Mars, and we haven’t the  _ remotest  _ idea of where he is!!” the profiler had begun to yell

“Okay then maybe I got it all wrong!” Blake spat back “Neither of them knew where Shaun Mars was because your  _ fucking girlfriend  _ Jodie Holmes is the real  _ killer here!! _ ” At this, Norman shoved him away roughly and Blake would have landed on the floor if his desk hadn’t been behind him.

The latter was ready to make  _ this stupid profiler _ pay by hitting him back, but when he noticed Jayden’s bloodshot eyes and his enraged look, he only smirked and calmly said 

“Have a nice trip back  _ Norman _ , I’ll try to make you allowed to visit her in jail, but I make no promises” He kept his proud and arrogant smirk on as he sat at his desk, leaving the usually calm Norman Jayden almost trembling with rage standing, before the latter finally left the room, unwilling to give Blake the satisfaction of him losing his dignity.

He slammed the door close to his office behind him as he kicked the small boxes that were laying on the floor before his vision began to blur, the profiler shakily searched into his jacket to find the blue tube that had been his only way to remain focused on the investigation since Jodie had left. He took his dose, much bigger than the last one and sat down at his office, waiting for it to take effect as he panted and wiped his nose, anger melting into anguish as he hid his head into his hands before dropping them, lowering his head in thoughts. Norman eventually slowly reached into his pocket, taking his ARI glasses and putting on its matching glove

“The killer’s name is here, somewhere in this data, I just have to find it” his voice grew in agitation “Find it before it’s too late!” He immediately put his glasses on as the same autumn forest he had hallucinated before appeared before him, it had been the only ARI environment he had used now as it reminded him of-

Instead of the ARI database appearing before him, nothing could be seen beside the forest, before  _ she  _ appeared, again, like a ghost haunting him.

“Oh one last thing sir” The butler’s voice resounded beside him, he must have had appeared at the same time than the “virtual” Jodie Holmes, “You should be careful not to overindulge in you know what...It could be dangerous” Norman didn’t even bother to look at the butler as he kept staring at the other apparition before him “Very dangerous, it’ll end up killing you if you’re not careful” Norman’s eyebrows lowered as he made a small frown of hesitation “That would be most unfortunate, sir” The butler faded at those words, but Jodie stayed, she had no emotion on her face as she stood before him, the  _ (artificial or not, it didn’t matter to him anymore) _ sun making her glow like an angel

“Jodie…” Norman tried to reach her once more, but only felt air again, he sighed, wallowing even more in his dilemma. If he stayed here too long, he would die, and all of his investigation would have been useless in saving both Shaun Mars and the Holmes, but if he just left he would break his promise...

“You said you wouldn't give up on me” The virtual Jodie stated with a cold voice

“If I stay here too long, I'll die, and Shaun Mars might not be saved either” He looked up at her, talking to her as if she was the real Jodie Holmes, and not one his subconscious had created into the ARI “...And I won't be able to see you again” his voice had begun to break, “Jodie”’s gaze softened as she leaned closer to him, however, her voice was still cold as she asked a simple question, at least to her:

“Do you love me?”

The profiler, taken aback, just stared at the apparition, his mouth opened agap, the virtual Jodie leaned even closer 

“I asked you something Jayden. Do you love me?” her voice and tone had never matched the real Jodie’s voice more than when she spoke this sentence, Norman still didn’t answer immediately, lowering his eyes for a moment, not daring to look at her…

“Yes…” he whispered, hoping that somehow, this extraordinary woman, Jodie Holmes could hear him, wherever she was, for now he only looked up at her virtual counterpart “Yes I do…” at his words, “Jodie” made a small smile as she “caressed” the profiler’s cheek before disappearing. Norman sadly passed his hand where hers had been, and saw some blood on it, he understood easily what was happening as the butler’s voice echoed again in his mind.

* * *

The sun had long risen when they took the road again on Madison’s motorbike, Jodie kept looking at the road, as she saw police cars driving everywhere, but not even noticing her gaze nor presence, not being able to recognise her or her brother with the helmets the journalist had found for them. Her hair despite being tied was soaked, the rain hadn’t stopped, not even for a brief moment, slowly making Shaun Mars’ life shorter and shorter…

“Remind me, where are we going again?” Aiden eventually asked as the traffic was quieter and so that, despite the motorbike engine noise, Madison could hear him

“A close friend and coworker of mine managed to track down John Sheppard’s mother, Ann, she’s been residing in our local hospital for years now after her son died and her other son got taken away by social services and got adopted”

“You think she could tell us anything? What if she doesn’t want to tell us to protect him? I mean even John didn’t tell us specifically who we were supposed to stop”

“I don’t know...But she’s the only one who knows her son...she’s the only person  _ alive  _ who could give us the answers to all of this puzzle” Madison replied, her voice stern “It’s worth a shot, it’s our only lead”

“I hope Blake’s dogs won’t be waiting for us there…” Jodie had finally spoken, she had been quiet since they had left Madison’s apartment

“Probably too busy searching Ethan…” the latter sighed as she began to slow down, they were approaching the hospital that was housing Ann Sheppard.

When they saw no flashing cars nor any other sign of police presence, Madison stopped her vehicle and the trio got down, finally removing their heavy helmets, and Aiden shook his head and hair like a wet dog which made Jodie groan as all the rainwater splat on her

“Damn it Aiden” the latter only smirked at his sister’s annoyance, she lightly pushed him, unable to hold back a small smile of her own as they began to walk to the entrance of the hospital reception.

The automatic doors opened as the three entered and didn’t waste any time to admire the scarce fake plants that adorned the room to try and give this hospital more life, they instead walked to the receptionist’s desk and at the sight of them, the nurse immediately looked up which startled Jodie for a moment, fearing she had recognized her and Aiden, but her kind smile quickly put her back at ease.

“Hello” Madison tried a smile as well, as she held her head to the side, trying to get rid of the rain her hair in a more elegant way than Aiden had done “We’re looking for Ann Sheppard’s room” the receptionist only rose up and replied simply as she handed a paper. 

“Please sign the visitor’s book” Madison only smiled and took the pen and the paper sheet the nurse had handed her, the receptionist hadn’t noticed the nervous glance she had thrown at the Holmes as she signed her name before giving the pen to Jodie who thought for a short moment before signing as “Katherine Pryde” 

“Are you from her family?” The nurse asked, still with her polite look on her face

“Yeah, you could say that” Aiden replied smirking as he signed as well “Anthony Pryde” Jodie gave him a small smile as she saw the name and handed back the paper to the woman

“Oh she’ll be pleased to have visitors!” She wasn’t suspicious at all as she exclaimed in a an almost naive tone, something that relieved the trio “No one ever comes to see her” the woman lowered her eyes “With the Alzheimer she has trouble remembering things”

_ Of course it wouldn't be simple  _ Jodie thought and almost rolled her eyes.

“But it will still please her, you know” The nurse eventually smiled again, while none of the three persons facing her wanted to smile, Ann Sheppard having Alzheimer would definitely not help, and it partly explained why no one else had managed to track down the John Sheppard lead to its end.

But Madison was determined, she was a good journalist and “investigator” in her own way, even through this woman’s illness, she was sure she could make her talk, and so were the Holmes twins, both gifted, and both having been contacted by Ann’s own son, as Jodie thought, it wouldn't be simple, but not pointless either.

“It’s room 19” The nurse finally rose up from her seat to point them the door leading to the patients rooms “At the end of the corridor”

“Thank you” Madison replied politely as the other lady got back to her work as she took the paper and put it into a neat pile of folders, but she still addressed one last smile at the older Holmes sibling who just awkwardly frowned but still tried a just as awkward smile before his younger sister pulled at his arm, Madison was already ahead of them opening the door to the corridor. As the three entered the room, they heard the thunder growl outside and the rain tapping louder against the windows, both Madison and Jodie sighed.

“Only a few hours left before Shaun Mars dies…”

“Hope we’re not wasting our time” Jodie began to stride forward, Madison and Aiden exchanged a worried look as they kept walking behind her, looking at the door numbers

“Room 19...now where is that?” Madison spoke up as she kept walking however not noticing that Jodie and Aiden’s eyes widened at one door and they stopped in their tracks “What is it?” The journalist asked hesitantly

“It’s there…” Jodie spoke softly as she began to walk where John Sheppard stood, he rose his head and the light on the ceiling right in front of his mother’s room began to flicker. The gifted woman put her hand on the door handle, giving one last look at the child’s shade who nodded, she then opened the door, entering the hospital room of Ann Sheppard, the orchid scent immediately filling her nose..

Aiden and Madison quietly joined her, the latter closed the door behind her as the three laid their eyes on the elderly woman sitting on her bed, two pillows behind her to support both her back and her head.

“Hello Mrs Sheppard…” Madison greeted her with her usual gentle voice and with a kind smile.

“Is it time for my pills already?” The woman asked with wide marble-like eyes, Madison lost her smile at this question but still tried to keep her calm

“N-No Mrs Sheppard I-”

“They’re never on time with my pills. I don’t know what they do here” Ann kept rambling “The other hospital they were always on time” Jodie looked sadly at the woman laying there, this hospital had already brought back memories of her mother, now the sight of Ann Sheppard half-laying on her hospital bed, rambling with her mind “broken”, tugged at her heart and she decided to sit on the edge of the bed, smiling at the woman who only frowned

“Are you new here? They didn’t tell you when to give you my pills did they?”

“N-no I-” Jodie lowered her eyes before looking up at Madison, who continued instead of her

“My name is Madison Paige, and those are my...co-workers…” She looked at both Aiden and Jodie, not knowing what name to use

“I’m Kitty” Jodie said quickly “Kitty...Pryde” then noticed Ann’s eyes were on Aiden who hesitantly waved “And uh I’m-I’m Tony-”

“You look so much like him” The ill woman spoke which made everyone freeze “You remind me of my little Johnny” The trio all exchanged a look before Ann continued “My Johnny, he is a good little boy, you know” Jodie felt a presence behind her and as she turned around, she wasn’t completely surprised to see the boy himself, smiling sadly at his mother. As Jodie kept staring at the young boy, she noticed he was standing near a table with some paper sheets, a vase with an orchid bathing in it, and an origami guide. She didn’t need to be a profiler to make the link, she then rose up and the book began to open itself, John was staring at her, the gifted woman didn’t touch anything and Aiden did not move either as he just stared at them both, wondering what the boy wanted to achieve…

“You had a son named John…” Madison continued to talk to the elderly woman “And John had a twin brother…”

“Do you have my pills?” The journalist almost rolled her eyes, the male Holmes twin on the other hand did not hold back and rolled his eyes as he made an annoyed huff noise.

“Please...try to remember Mrs Sheppard” Madison insisted, however, keeping her quiet tone, insisting too aggressively on a sick woman would not help “John’s twin brother was placed with a foster family after the accident…What was the name of the foster family?” Jodie kept looking at both the book and the boy, eventually it stopped on one page.

“I asked them for a television you know” Aiden was about to curse when he eventually noticed a paper sheet floating in the air, he instead frowned in slight confusion before exchanging a look with Jodie. “They said I didn’t have enough money, that’s a pity. I’m fond of television…”

“Your other son Mrs Sheppard…” Madison wasn’t going to give up, and as she was deep in thoughts she hadn’t noticed what was happening on the table where Jodie was standing “John’s twin brother, what was his name?” Her tone was growing more impatient.

“...What other son? I have no other son...I never had any children”

“Yeah that’s why you confused me with one of them” Aiden muttered near his sister who glared at him, luckily for him, Ann Sheppard hadn’t heard him “This isn’t going anywhere Jodie”

“Shh!” Jodie snapped him shut as she noticed that the paper had now been folded into the form of a small dog,  _ an origami figure _ . The twins exchanged a knowing look as Jodie touched the origami and her head rose up suddenly, as she closed her eyes and gasped.

_ A rather dirty small and dimly lit room appeared in a flash, in this room were two children giggling with their mother looking fondly at them. The little family were all holding and folding small pieces of paper. One of the child was folding his paper into the shape of a butterfly while grinning as his brother, John Sheppard, finally exclaimed as he held up his little paper dog _

_ “I’ve finished mom!” _

_ “Another dog John? Really?” the other child, John’s brother replied. _

_ “Shut up!” He chuckled as he playfully punched at his brother’s arm while holding the dog to his mother “I’ll call him Max!” _

_ “Now now” The younger Ann Sheppard smile fondly at her two sons as she put down her frog origami “You already have ten other paper dogs named Max, they can’t all have the same name, they’ll get confused” she chuckled _

_ “But mom! Max is the perfect name for a dog!” _

_ “Do you think we’ll ever get a real dog? Dad could maybe get us one if he started working again” The quieter brother hesitantly asked, Ann Sheppard lowered her eyes  _

_ “You know your dad has problems...But I’ll talk to him” she held her children close, they both smiled, even though the unknown brother’s smile seemed more hollow… _

Jodie gasped as the flashback suddenly stopped, Madison gave her a look before continuing what she was doing, showing a picture of the two boys she had found in a drawer, they were standing in front of a caravan.

“Are these your children Mrs Sheppard? John and his brother?” Aiden and Jodie threw glances at the picture, those were indeed the children Jodie had seen in her vision…

“ They are good little boys…” Ann began “Their father never looked after them...always drinking. They didn’t have an easy life you know…” the elderly woman suddenly grinned ear to ear as she noticed the paper dog in Jodie’s hand “Oh you know how to do those little dogs too!” She exclaimed “My children loved origami, I taught them how to do it. John loved the little dogs” Madison kept on looking “He always wanted to call them-”

“Max?” Jodie tried a smile

“Yes!” Ann laughed a little “Max, Max, Max! All dogs with the same name! I was wasting my time telling him they couldn’t all have the same name, but he always wanted his paper dogs, Max. It’s funny isn’t it?”

“Yeah it is, all the dogs would get confused” Jodie kept on smiling kindly “But “Max” is a good name for a dog…” She noticed something glimmering in Ann Sheppard’s eyes, as if she was finally starting to piece together her life back, eventually some tears leaked from her eyes as she glanced at the picture

“I cried when they told me…” Jodie sat back down on the bed, Madison approaching as well “I’d already lost one of my children...and now they were taking away another one, you understand?” The twins exchanged a brief knowing look of sadness, the image of Norah flashing into their minds, while Madison couldn’t give up now.

“The foster family Mrs Sheppard? What was the name of the foster family that adopted John’s brother?”

“They were very very nice people…I met them you know, in the beginning I used to go and see my little boy...and then I got sick and I couldn’t go any longer. Perhaps he thought I had forgotten him...He must have thought I didn’t love him anymore...My poor son...thinking he was all alone…”

“His name Mrs Sheppard...what was his name? Please?” Jodie asked quietly

“But I loved him” the gifted woman tried to read into her, to sense something that could help her, but all she could sense was guilt…

Maybe despite her illness, Ann Sheppard knew what her son had done “If you only knew how much I missed him…”

“I can easily guess that you do…” Jodie almost whispered as she hesitantly took the hand of the mother of both John Sheppard and, maybe, of the Origami Killer… “We need to know his name, Ann, we need to help him...do you understand?”

**_“Please mom...Help them...He needs to stop”_ **

Aiden gave a quick look at John Sheppard’s shade and noticed that Ann Sheppard seemed to be looking where he was standing as well, he didn’t have the time to give this much thought as he heard the mother say those two words to his sister:

“Come closer…”

Jodie shuddered, she would finally know the killer’s name, the Origami Killer, the one who had already killed eight children…

She approached the mother of the Origami Killer as she finally opened her mouth to whisper the two words everyone needed to hear.

“ _ Scott Shelby” _

Jodie gasped as she quickly pulled herself away from the woman, her mind was in too much shock to even care about how impolite or unkind that gesture must have seemed like, her eyes were blown wide. She eventually found the strength to look up at her brother who had the same shocked expression than her, but mixed with anger.

It was the same man that had “welcomed” them into Philadelphia, the same that had kindly told them about the killer with a smile on his face, the same one who came to haunt the father of one his victims on that night at the shop. All of this disgusted the Holmes twins, knowing they had encountered him but hadn’t done anything…

How could they have known anyway? This bastard had easily put on his kind private eye mask, despite her gift, Jodie had been unable to pierce through this mask. 

The journalist on the other hand, still had a shock expression, as she did know the man as well, he had helped her on some investigations and had always been a great help.

But none of that mattered to any of them anymore, Jodie’s shock faded into determination to end this,  _ once and for all _ .

She rose up, not bothering to say goodbye to Ann Sheppard, her brother and her friend did the same, leaving the old mother alone in her room, as John gave her one last smile

_ “It’s okay mom...You did the right thing...Now  _ **_they_ ** _ have to do the right thing.” _

* * *

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, I went there with the Kitty Pryde reference, I love Elliot Page as if that wasn't obvious enough...  
> Same for Aiden's fake name, it's a Skins reference :3


	10. The Origami Killer

_ The rain wouldn't stop pouring, the younger Sheppard boy kept wishing and begging in his mind for it to stop, for just a moment, a moment long enough for him to pull up his twin brother out of the hole slowly filling with water he had fallen in. He kept pulling at his brother's arm as John kept yelling, eventually the younger boy realizing it was futile let go of his brother's arm _

_ “Hang on John…” He stammered “I-I’ll get help, just hang on” _

_ “Go on, hurry!” John replied with a strong voice nonetheless, still trying to be the stronger brother “I think the water is rising” he stated in between two coughs as his little brother began running away in panic _

_ “I'm hurrying!! I'll be right back I promise!”  _

_ John's brother quickly made his way out of the wasteland where he and John had been playing before the accident, he ran, panting all the while, as thoughts kept running into his head _

_ “Mom’s work is too far! I'll never reach her in time!” his thoughts kept running with him _

_ “The wasteland was empty, no one was around to help!” His feet instinctively were leading him to his home, the caravan where earlier, his father had pushed both him and John outside to drink in peace “Dad! Dad’s the only one who can help me!”  _

_ His eyes, blurred by the rain, began to draw the shape of his father sitting in front of the caravan, a bottle in his hand. His son strode fast to him but he didn't seem to have noticed in his drunken state, or simply didn't care. _

_ “Dad! Dad! It's John!” The young boy yelled, his father barely opened bloodshot eyes as he began to make hand gestures to tell his son to go away “He-he fell into a pipe” that's when the man began to groan and pushed a hand to make his son back off “He's dying!!” The boy ignored his drunken father’s ramblings as he strode back to him, pulling at his arms  _

_ “Get out of here you little bastard! Leave me alone!” _

_ “You have to come Dad!” the boy kept pulling desperately at his father's strong arm “Come on, John’s gonna die, John’s gonna die!!” he yelled in panic and terror  _

_ “Well that will be one less greedy mouth to feed won't it?!” His father almost happily exclaimed, the boy tried to repress the shock those words had made him feel as he kept trying to convince his father,  _ **_John was going to die if he didn't do anything_ ** _.  _

_ “Go away!” _

_ “Please Dad! I'm begging you! John's gonna die!! John's gonna die!! John's gonna die Dad!!!” _

_ “Beat it already you scrap!” the father eventually pushed his own son away in the dirt, the boy slowly rose up, holding back tears _

_ “Please, please Dad, you've gotta save John…”  _

_ The only answer he got was his father taking another sip from his bottle _

_ “I tried John, I really tried!” The boy was crying before his dying brother, looking into his blue eyes, unconsciously both knowing and refusing it to be the last time he would see them.  _

_ “But he wouldn't do anything!” He exclaimed in both anguish and anger at their father “Please don't die John...Please….” He finally sobbed as he watched his brother slowly being submerged by the rain. _

_ “Don't…” John whispered “Don't forget about me Scottie…”  _

_ Scott stared at his brother dying, his eyes losing any spark of life they had as he began to hold his hand, lowering his head toward it, tears falling at the same time as rain… _

The same tired brown eyes, now changed by the traces of time, were crying in front of the picture Madison had found earlier in Ann Sheppard’s room. Scott had wanted to say something to his mother, as he had not seen her in years, but as he saw her glowing in the small sunlight that had traversed the window to light her sleeping form, he couldn’t stand the thought of waking her up, he just took the picture quietly, knowing he had to get rid of it before someone found it, and then put a small kiss on his mother's forehead before leaving the hospital. When out in the rain he briefly saw a face he had seen before…

This hadn’t been a good sign, he knew he had to hurry and burn anything that could link him and the infamous Origami Killer. He wiped his tears and sat back against his chair as he lit up a match before throwing in a metal trash can, he looked at the picture one last time, a small tear leaking again, before he threw it in the fire, closing his eyes, refusing to look at his last memory of John burning away.

_ He had tried to forget those bad times, the foster family he had been placed in was nice, he had a proper house with his own room, and nice foster parents who took care of him. _

_ However, their kindness always seemed fake to him, forced, it wasn't genuine, it wasn’t  _ **_real_ ** _. Only his mother's visits were warm and honest, those were the only times where John wouldn't be haunting his memories. _

_ When his mother got sick and stopped visiting him, he knew he was truly alone now.  _

_ He grew tired and restless from this fake family we had imposed him and left as soon as he could, desperately still trying to ignore the nightmares of John drowning, or of their father forcefully pushing them both underwater, or of them both drowning with their father only watching with a smile… _

_ He would usually wake up in sweat, in his new ( _ now old, as he had lived there for years now _ ) apartment, a cigarette having burnt into the ashtray near his bed and an empty bottle of whiskey next to it. Scott usually didn't have the time to notice his bottle was empty as his phone would ring: Carter Blake, his friend and coworker of five years now had a new case for him… _

_ It was one of the kinds he most hated _

_ “I'm telling the truth officer-” _

_ “Lieutenant Shelby please, look, I don't want to ruin your evening” He noticed a little girl with wide scared brown eyes, clutching a fox plush in her hands, he gave her a small kind smile, she just lowered her head, Scott easily guessed that the man before him, with his dirty clothes, greasy brown hair and his agitated look, was lying to him. _

_ The reports had been right, what his neighbor had heard must have been right _

_ He was beating his innocent little girl. _

_ This father was beating an innocent child. _

_ Scott’s nightmares and memories flashed briefly in his mind as Blake did the talking, having noticed his friend’s state. _

_ Couldn’t there be one decent father in this goddamn forsaken world? Couldn’t there be a single one who would do anything to shield their children for harm? _

_ Couldn’t there be  _ **_one father in this world, who would do anything for his child?_ **

_ For all those years, Scott drowned himself into his police work, into smoking, into drinking, anything that could make him forget John’s death, he stopped visiting his mother at the hospital, he tried to repress all the memories of his previous family, of his incapable father. _

_ But the nightmares never stopped, and the echo of his brother’s last words never did either _

_ “Don’t forget about me Scottie” _

_ He almost had, he almost had managed to move on until that one fateful day, two years ago… _

_ Where he saw Ethan Mars, ruining all his efforts of turning this dark page of his past. _

_ When he saw Ethan Mars failing to save his son, but still desperately trying to. Having  _ **_sacrificed himself for his son…_ **

_ He stood there the whole time, watching both the dead and the comatose body of the child and the father, and watching the lone brother left standing there… _

_ That was it. That was the day that the Origami Killer had been born… _

_ He shouldn’t have tried to forget John, he knew what was his purpose now, he had to find the father who would do anything for love in its purest form… _

_ A father who would do anything for his son. _

_ But he failed, eight times, and eight lifeless children's bodies were left in wastelands, Scott could only offer them flowers and origami as apologies. _

_ Not for his actions, he was not the one responsible! Scott wasn’t to blame!! It was the fathers! _

_ It was better for the children to die in mercy than stay with a father unworthy of their love… _

Scott had stayed sat on his seat, watching all the evidence he had collected burn into the can: The phone Jeremy Bowles’ father had received from him, the letter he had sent to Alan Winter. A peak of guilt made its way into his mind and heart when he thought of  _ Lauren Winter _ , what would she think? Would she understand? No matter, she was gone now, it was better this way. He also threw Hassan’s shoe box into the fire, full of the same origami figures Ethan had, the origami figures containing the trials.

As he watched the box burn, something flashed in his mind.

He remembered the face he had seen leaving the hospital, this strange girl who had asked him questions about the Origami Killer, about  _ him. _

If she had been in the hospital, then that only meant one thing:

_ She knew _ .

A determined rage made its way into his eyes as he realized he still had a few loose ends to take care of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Definitely one of my favorite chapters, as much as I love Heavy Rain, I thought the killer's motivations and backstory weren't explored enough, so I figured I'd write this chapter to get a bit more into that ^^  
> Also, there's two Detroit Become Human characters in this chapter, can you find out who? ;)


	11. Last breath

The three detainees of the truth were now climbing up the stairs that led to the address Madison’s friend, and the twins assumed, co-worker, Sam, had found. The walls were not as dirty as where Madison had found Ethan in Marble Street, where by a bitter or lucky twist of fate, he had found himself arrested, for a short time, and had found Jodie and Aiden Holmes to help him. Madison was holding her hands tights, her knuckles almost white as she kept scratching at her palms as she approached the apartment, Jodie and Aiden weren’t as afraid, they had been manipulated by this man, this is something Jodie  _ never _ forgave. A plaque, “Scott Shelby, Private Investigator” was fixed on the door.

“What if that twat is home?” Aiden asked, still glancing at the stairs, in case someone else showed up

“We’ll just pretend we got the wrong floor...It’s gonna be fine” Madison tried to calm herself as she tried to open the door, which obviously, turned out to be locked. She searched into her pocket and pulled out two hairpins from it, as she began to work on the lock with them. “If he’s here we’ll just...just leave and try to come back later, I don’t know-”

“That apartment might be the only place where we can find proof about that fucking prick’s actions! We need to get in! I don’t care if he’s here or not!” Jodie began to yell as Madison trembled even more, her eyes blinking rapidly, she needed concentration, and her insomnia was not her ally, nor was Jodie’s yelling voice, she began to slow down, which made the other woman even more frustrated as she not so gently pushed her away from the door, uttering a quick “Let me deal with that” before Jodie kicked the door open, Madison threw a worried look at the stairs, but didn’t hear any noise nor seen anyone coming up, Jodie and Aiden just stared at the interior of the apartment…

“The Origami Killer’s apartment…” Jodie muttered, Madison looked back at them and finally joined them inside as she carefully closed the door behind her

“There must be something that will tell us where Shaun Mars is...if Ethan doesn’t find him we’re maybe his only chance” Madison began to walk around the room, some confidence having found its way back into her, she looked at her two friends “Let’s all take one room and search every corner of it, there has to be something” she said quickly before making her way into the bedroom, Aiden gave his sister a look and a small pat on her shoulder, before she nodded, and he headed to the kitchen, while Jodie was left in the big living room.

The interior was sparse, luckily for her, she didn’t have much to search, she walked away from the living space which only had two couches, and made her way to the desk that was almost at the center of the whole place, before the window. She quickly noticed a giant map of the city on the wall as well a honor plaque and pictures of Shelby in a cop uniform, standing proudly with two coworkers, one of them being none other than Carter Blake himself, she shook her head in disgust as she turned her eyes back at the desk where a green folder was resting, she took it in her hand, and only saw what she already had seen in the precinct with Norman. Files about the Origami Killer, his victims’ profiles, the investigations reports that had been done… Jodie promptly threw the folder away as soon as she noticed it would be useless, and began to pinch her nose, she had already noticed a smell or burning but it was more intense as she had approached the desk, she looked around and finally noticed the metal trash can, the brunette took a look and coughed slightly

“That’s where the burning smell comes from” she said out loud, Madison joined her as well as Aiden

“Evidence going up in smoke…” The latter uttered with an irritated voice, the journalist just walked away to the big wooden closet against the wall and opened it hastily and frowned at her finding.

“A cop’s uniform” The twins joined her “ “Always trust a cop” that's why children went with him, he was dressed as a cop!”

“They need to stop teaching that bullshit to kids” Aiden muttered as Madison gave him an annoyed look “Just my opinion” he shrugged, while his sister just kept staring at the closet in complete silence “What is it sis?”

She didn't reply and only pulled all of the clothes to the side, her brother frowned while Madison began to look intrigued as she took her phone in hand. 

Jodie knocked on the back panel of the closet and heard a sort of echo resonate behind.

She gave the other two a glance before staring once more at the back panel, and looking more closely, she noticed some scratch marks on its side. Her small hands quickly moved to it, beginning to try and push the back panel to the side, she could feel it move, which confirmed her suspicion of something hidden behind. When the panel finally slid open, the trio was met with a metal door

“What the fuck?” Aiden uttered as Madison took a quick picture, before following Jodie who wasted no time and opened the door.

The orchid smell quickly filled everyone’s noses as they slowly and carefully entered the small room:

Orchid flowers were being cultivated in a small area lit by ultra-violet lights

“This is where he cultivated the orchids that he left on the chest of his victims” Madison quickly said as she took another picture, Jodie noticed a shelf with some small origami figures sitting patiently there, almost as if they were waiting to be either put into one of those infamous shoe boxes the killer gave the fathers, or to decorate the corpse of a little boy… 

The gifted woman closed her eyes quickly as some visions of Shelby pulling corpses on railroads and laying them on wasteland, putting the origami in their little lifeless hands flashed in her mind.

She looked away as she whispered

“Shelby could come back any minute...we gotta be fast” As she said those words, she noticed a screen, while Madison was still taking pictures of the room, she advanced toward it, Aiden still following her closely, she squinted her eyes to see clearly what was on the screen before she gasped and put her hand before her mouth, horrified.

“What is it?” Madison joined them as she heard her friend gasp, but when she saw the screen she couldn’t help but have the same shock expression than her.

“Shaun Mars…” Jodie muttered “That psycho’s been watching him drown”

“As soon as we find that bastard I’ll make him fucking pay” Aiden clenched his fists while his sister managed to finally tear her eyes away from the screen, instead going to the small laptop that was right under it, it was still on, Scott Shelby hadn’t left long ago then, they still had some time

At least she hoped as the screen lit on

“Shit! It needs a password!” Madison took a quick picture of the room again before finally putting her phone back into her pocket, she had all the proof she needed now, she leaned next to Jodie.

“Try John...his dead brother...that’d make sense” Jodie typed what her friend suggested while screen flashed a bright red **“** **_Incorrect Password_ ”**

“Fuck…” Jodie cursed as she thought for a short moment before typing “Sheppard”, but it came to the same result

**_“Incorrect Password”_ **

“Rain?” Aiden suggested

“Too obvious” Madison replied, looking behind her shoulder at him “And too short as well”

“I don’t know, “Origami” ?” The young man tried again

“Still too obvious” 

“I’m fucking trying okay!”

“No need to yell!”

Jodie just rolled her eyes as she decided to ignore their bickering and tried to focus…

She eventually typed three letters…

“ _ Max _ ”

**_“Correct Password”_ **

“Max” Jodie said quickly so the other two could stop arguing “The name John gave to his paper dogs”

“Something only he and John could know, of course…” Madison sighed

“What the hell is that?” Aiden leaned closer as the screen displayed a black window next to a map, it was an address…

“852 Theodore Roosevelt Road” Jodie read out loud “Got to be where Shaun Mars is” the journalist took yet another quick photo of the address, to make sure they wouldn’t forget it and so she could send it to Ethan if needed. 

“Hurry!” Madison yelled as she slightly pushed Aiden on her way out of the room “There’s no time to lose!” Jodie locked the computer once again, to leave no traces of their passage…

But it turned out to be useless when they were met with none other than the killer himself, pointing a gun to their heads.

“So you found my little secret...” He taunted them, Aiden and Jodie stared at him defiantly, rage pouring into their eyes, but Madison held them back as she tried the calm approach instead:

Talk to him, try to convince him to stop this madness, try to make him see reason.

“It’s over Scott” She said “All those children killed just to find a father who was capable of saving his son?!” She still had an accusing tone

“Shut up!” Scott Shelby yelled, pointing the gun closer to them “You don’t understand…” Some sort of melancholy made its way to his voice,

“There’s one child left…” Madison tried again despite her fear “There might still be time to save him...Let him go!”

“Do what your father couldn’t do…” It was Jodie’s turn to try to talk to him, the man lowered his eyes, turning his head away from them, frowning in thought, for a moment both Jodie and Madison were hoping that he still had enough sanity left to just end all of this, Aiden on the other hand, was ready to attack him.

But as he was finally about to lunge himself at the killer, Scott raised his gun again, putting it closely against Aiden’s head, his sister gasped in fear as she took a hold of his arm. Scott looked at the gesture and even more rage seemed to fill his eyes

“Get in there” He still spoke in a cold, menacing tone, intimidating enough for even the Holmes to be scared of the man before them, and as he approached, his gun still aimed at them, they backed off, back in the concealed room, as Scott locked the door behind them.

Aiden immediately went to try and kick down the metal door as Madison desperately looked around

“It’s useless Aiden! This is fucking metal and there’s another panel behind!”

“So what?! You want us to stay stuck in here and die from lack of oxygen like fucking rats?!”

She didn’t reply anything, which worried Aiden, he followed her eyes that were fixed on the ground beneath the door: some smoke was making its way inside the room.

“S-Shit!!” Aiden began to cough as Madison kept knocking frantically at almost every corner of the room’s walls, looking for a hollow point, which she eventually found as she sighed in slight relief.

“The wall is fragile here! I need something to destroy it, quick!” Jodie looked around then laid her eyes on the blue electronic box that relied the computer to Shaun Mars’ screen, she focused on it and made it fly quickly across the room as it landed in loud clunk on the floor next to Madison’s feet, the latter had a brief look of surprise on her face but when she saw Jodie’s look, she understood and didn’t question it as she picked it up, quickly hitting the wall with it. A small portion of the wall was slowly breaking under Madison’s hits and she quickly pushed the fragile last rest of it away, making a passage. The trio took turns in crawling out of the room that was slowly filling up with thick smoke behind them, instead landing into the small bathroom of the apartement

“We might still have a chance, if we can get out of the apartment fast enough!” Madison yelled as Aiden opened the door, and coughed as smoke and smell or flames made its way into his nose.

The whole room was on fire, the wallpapers already burning down and leaving only dark leaves-shaped pieces on the floor, there was no way, no corner that wasn’t covered in fire.

“No!” Madison yelled “No! No! I can’t die like this! Not like this!!” She began to panic “We’re stuck!” Jodie put a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she looked at Aiden who nodded quickly, joining them as he took a hold of his sister’s shoulder, Jodie holding Madison close as well

“You’ll have to trust us okay?!” Jodie exclaimed “We’re not gonna die Madison, okay! Just trust me!” Madison looked at her in despair before Jodie turned her eyes toward her twin brother, both of them briefly closed their eyes as a blue shield-like light began to surround the trio, to the journalist’s surprise. Aiden and Jodie didn’t let go of each other as they opened their eyes, which were now a shining blue, they began to walk through the fire, guiding Madison carefully with them as she looked in awe: the flames weren’t touching them, the blue “force-shield” or whatever it was that the Holmes had created were protecting them from this hell.

The three of them managed to make their way to a window that Madison opened quickly, as Aiden and Jodie kept maintaining the shield.

“It’s way too high!” Madison yelled “We’ll kill ourselves if we jump!” 

“D-Don’t worry about that” Jodie began as she pulled Madison away from the windows, making them explode with her power, the journalist gasped again as she shielded her head with her arm.

“Whatever happens, don’t let go of us, got it?!” Jodie yelled “I told you, we’re not gonna die, do you hear me?!” The other woman just stared at her, she didn’t fully understand what was happening, but she had no other choice than to trust Jodie, who had been a great help, whether to Madison herself, or to Ethan.... 

The journalist finally nodded, taking a hold of Jodie’s arm.

“Aiden!” The latter yelled as her brother took a hold of her other arm, they all closed their eyes, as the twins focused again, before jumping away from the burning apartment, Madison couldn’t help but scream in fear, despite the fall seeming longer and slower than what she expected…

A loud noise was heard as Jodie clumsily landed on her feet on the sidewalk near the apartment, Madison immediately let go of her arm to regain her balance, Aiden was just grinning, happy to have survived until Jodie pulled at his arm and began to run away, her and Madison had noticed the apartment was about to properly explode as they leapt the farthest away they could on the floor as the explosion made the whole stair explode.

The cars on the road nearby immediately stopped and walking passer-by pointed to the flames coming out of the building, yelling their surprise and fear.

Madison coughed as she slowly rose up, helping Jodie up with one arm, as the three made their way to her motorbike, the journalist was still shaking in slight fright.

“You alright?” Aiden asked hesitantly, but the journalist ignored him as she quickly got her phone out.

“I know where Shaun is...I’ve got to tell Ethan!” She exclaimed as she tapped the number.

_ “Hello?” _

“Ethan? It’s Madison! I know where Shaun is!” She didn’t stop talking not even to take a breath in between her sentences “He’s at 852 Theodore Roosevelt Road! He’s still alive! You can still save him!” She heard a brief gasp from the other line.

_ “I’m on my way!!” _

“Be careful Ethan!” The always prudent Madison Paige told him “The killer’s still out there…”

“ _ No one’s gonna stop me from saving my son”  _ At this sentence, he hung up, leaving Madison alone with the Holmes twins. She turned around to look at them “Ethan will need help” she grabbed her motorcycle helmet “Shelby is trying to get rid of every single track that leads to him, Ethan will be next” Jodie had a brief thought, Scott probably thought her, Aiden and Madison had died in the explosion now…

_ But what about… _

She quickly nodded at the journalist before grabbing another helmet along with Aiden as the trio all hopped on Madison’s motorbike, riding away, ignoring the confused people around.

They needed to save Shaun Mars, they needed to stop the Origami Killer, they needed to end this, once and for all.

* * *

The wind was howling and the thunder could be heard among the other noises present at the docks, the rain was still pouring, making its way through every crack and hole it could find. Unknowingly, slowly drowning a child.

Car lights began to flash through the grey and foggy atmosphere as a taxi stopped in front of an abandoned warehouse,

Ethan Mars turned off the engine as he stared at the location, if Madison had been wrong, if  _ he  _ had been wrong …

_No_ , he couldn’t allow himself to think this, not now, Shaun had to be there, it was all that mattered, saving his son.

He hastily left the car and ran to the only door that seemed to also be the only entrance, he pushed it wide open as he looked around the wide room full of metal and leftovers of the warehouse’s former utility: he could still hear the rain, which meant part of the roof was gone, letting the rain flow freely in one area of the room.

“Shaun!” The father yelled as he ran his way to where some natural light could make its way, and saw a dry well, and quickly noticed his son trapped in it with a metal gate, in a prison made of water, he fell onto his knees as he began to shake the metal railings

“Shaun! Shaun, can you hear me?!” His son’s exhausted eyes briefly looked up as a weak small hand tried to grasp his father’s own hand through the grate, but it was to no avail, as Shaun lost consciousness, Ethan began to panic, not noticing the camera in the corner, filming both him and his son as he yelled “I’m gonna get you out of there!” he kept shaking desperately at the railings, then began to fumble with the lock but it was of no use. He rose up uttering a quick “don’t worry Shaun!” before running around the room, looking for anything that could be useful

_ “Gotta open that goddamn grate!! Gotta find something fast!”  _ Tears of panic began to make their way on his face as he kept looking around until suddenly, the lock snapped up and away on its own. 

“Ethan!” Madison yelled, relieved that she arrived before the killer, Jodie and Aiden running behind her

“Where is Shaun?!” Jodie asked hastily 

“In here! Quick! Help me!” Ethan ran to the dry well as Aiden joined him immediately, both of them rising and pushing the grate until it finally landed on the other side, on the metallic floor with loud noise. Ethan immediately began to pull Shaun away from the well as he laid him on the floor nearby. He was still unresponsive

“Shaun!  _ Shaun!  _ My god Shaun, answer me!” His father began to push on his chest, performing CPR on him, desperately trying to make him breathe “Don’t die on me son, please. Breathe! You’ve gotta breathe!” 

The father kept trying to make his son regain consciousness, leaving the others to only be able to witness the despair in his attempts, Jodie knelt down next to him and took Shaun’s hand, closing her eyes as some faint pale green light made its way to her hands again as she kept her eyes closed both in concentration and fear, she refused to let someone else die in front of her when she could do something.

To Aiden’s surprise, the same faint green light could be seen on Ethan’s hands as he eventually gave up and just laid his head against his son’s unconscious body.

“Don’t leave me please” He pulled away, openly sobbing now as he looked at his son’s face, holding it between his hands “Shaun don’t…” the man held his son’s hand “Don’t leave me...please” He hopelessly fell next to his son’s face, never letting go of his hand as he wept in despair. Everyone around the two couldn’t help but let some tears fall as well as the fact that they might have arrived too late began to dawn on them.

But some small coughs made them open their eyes wide in relief, Ethan slowly rose his head, hoping it wasn’t a mirage…

But he saw his son’s blue eyes wide open as he began to inhale some deep intake of air and coughed some more.

“Oh!” Ethan exclaimed in relief and happiness “Oh Shaun!” He began to hold his son in his arms “I-I thought you were gone!” 

“D-Dad” The boy finally spoke up “I knew you’d come and save me” He tried a small smile at his father, as Ethan finally grinned ear to ear, holding his son in his arms, Jodie did a small chuckle of relief as well as she wiped her tears while Aiden joined her to give her a quick hug,  _ they had saved Shaun Mars. _

However Ethan finally remembered the small watch on his wrist

“ 00:10”

The man frowned, the fact that he only had ten seconds to say his goodbyes to his son dawning on him, he took Shaun’s head in his two hands, staring in his eyes, smiling

“Shaun, listen. You are the best thing that’s ever happened in my life” Madison frowned slightly at those words, they sounded like  _ last dying words _ , she gasped as she realised what the last trial had been “I want you to know that whatever happens” Ethan continued, as Shaun himself began to frown in confusion “I love you more than anything in the world” He gave one last smile as tears meddled with rain on his face. 

However, unlike some burning sensation or pain he had expected to happen in his body, nothing happened, he opened his eyes and looked at the watch, and four zeroes were flashing on it, Shaun’s eyes darted on the watch

“Dad? What’s that?”

Ethan stared in disbelief, before making a joyful chuckle, hugging Shaun once again

“It’s nothing Shaun” He kept grinning “It’s nothing, it’s over now Shaun, you’re okay” as Shaun kept holding onto his father, Ethan looked up at each of his three allies, and then at Madison, still smiling “Thanks Madison...if you hadn’t found the address...I don’t know what would have happened...Thank you” Madison just smiled and lowered her head to give Ethan a quick kiss as Shaun opened his eyes wide

“Woah! Dad!” He chuckled a little “Gross!” Everyone around him began to laugh with him…

Jodie was smiling herself, all they needed now was to get out of this warehouse, Ethan, Madison and Shaun could be live happily together, with Madison’s proof, her and Aiden’s names would be cleared, and she could finally reunite with Norman, finally tell him that-

“My father didn’t lift one finger to save his son…” Everyone turned around at the sinister voice, Ethan rose up protectively standing before Shaun as the child, recognizing the figure who had put him in this well, clutched at his father’s leg. His four adversaries stood up, facing him, as Scott kept talking.

“I have been looking for a long, long time Ethan…Looking for a father that would be able to do what mine could not do…” The man before them, the  _ killer  _ before them, sounded more broken than insane at the moment “Sacrifice himself to save his son...Oh, oh” He hollowly chuckled as he moved around, Ethan quickly taking a hold of Shaun’s hand, Jodie holding onto her brother “Oh I searched and searched...but they all failed. And then...I remembered you” 

Ethan blinked rapidly in shock at those pathetic attempts to justify murders of children

“All those murders...just to find a father capable of saving his son?!”

“Just to find a father?!” Scott yelled, which made Madison slightly flinch “Have you any idea of how it feels to know you’ve been a worthless  _ nothing _ in your father’s eyes?! Believe me! I’ve suffered!...Just as much as my victims…”

“You’re mad...you’re completely fucking mad!!” Ethan strode forward, pulling his gun out

“Dad!” Shaun exclaimed in fear, but Scott didn’t move

“Go ahead...You can kill me now...It doesn’t matter anymore...You’ve accomplished what I’ve wanted to see”

Ethan stared at him for a moment, no one else moved, some hoping he would shoot, but his son clutched at his leg again, silently telling him not to become a killer…

Ethan closed his eyes, then finally lowered the gun.

“You’ve manipulated me, but now it’s over...I have my son” Shaun clumsily rose up, next to his father “You have no power over me anymore…” Ethan briefly looked behind Scott Shelby and saw his dead twin brother’s shade slowly walking behind him, the shade that had been helping him to find Shaun…

Ethan unloaded the gun “You’re gonna have to face up to your nightmares on your own now…” He threw the gun away.

However, to everyone’s dismay, Scott Shelby didn’t move...

“Now let us go!” Ethan eventually yelled

“I’m afraid that’s not possible…” Everyone’s eyes widened, as Scott quickly got his gun out and a shot was the only noise that could be heard beside the rain.

Ethan trying to catch her in her fall and Jodie’s scream were the last things Madison Paige saw, everything around seeming to go in slow motion as the surroundings around her began to fade and blur from her vision…

She faintly felt herself, or her body, she wasn’t sure anymore, fall on the metal ground as Ethan fell to his knees next to her, she briefly  _ finally  _ saw John Sheppard in the room as well, he was screaming too.

She could hear faint echoes of her name from Ethan’s voice as she used her last remaining strength to look at him, and as always, put a reassuring smile on her face

“I-I’m sorry Ethan...I...I l…” she hadn’t had the time to finish as she felt her soul float adrift, away from the warehouse…

Away from the real world.

“This madness has to stop now!!” Jodie finally yelled, all the pent up rage, frustration and fear that had always been boiling inside her exploding in a scream.

“You don’t understand anything!!” Scott began to point his gun at her as he shot once, but the bullet somehow flew right away from her, hitting the side of the wall, in shock he didn’t attempt anything again.

“I  _ know  _ what you went through Scott! This isn’t a reason to do any of this!! You lost your twin brother!” 

Aiden looked at her in panic, about to attack Shelby at any moment, but he didn’t seem to move, his sister’s words seemingly touching him

“He’s the only one who understood you, the only one you could talk to…” The twins exchanged a quick look, as Scott had lowered his eyes and his arm.

“...John and I were like one person”

Jodie’s eyes couldn’t help but soften a little, because she wasn’t lying, she  _ knew  _ what this man had been through, or at least part of what he had been through. 

“When he died...it was like a part of me died with him…”

_ “I loved you and hated you for years….But you were a part of me.” _

Jodie and Aiden exchanged a tearful and knowing look, which Scott interpreted as them planning something against him, he immediately raised his arm again and his eyes hardened like steel.

“Stop trying to get in my head! It might have worked before with others,  _ Jodie Holmes _ , but it won’t work with me!!” He pointed his gun again until he heard a different voice coming from the woman standing before him

**_“Scottie…”_ **

He gasped “There-There’s no way…”

**_“Scottie...you have to stop this! You have no idea what you’re causing! YOU NEED TO STOP NOW!!!”_ **

“SHUT UP! YOU’RE NOT JOHN! HE WOULDN'T’ SAY THIS! He would encourage me!!” He pointed his gun at her again “Now it’s time to die bitch!!” That was it, Aiden lunged at him, he didn’t have the time to use any of his abilities as he kept trying to make the stronger man let go of his gun, pushing against his arms, but eventually another shot was heard.

“AIDEN!!!”

The latter fell on the floor, holding his leg as he groaned in pain, Jodie was about to run to him, to heal him but Scott was faster than her as he began to push her backward, she tried her best to push him away from her as she could slowly feel herself approaching the well full of water, she glanced behind her then back at her aggressor, then at her brother,  _ she refused to lose him a second time. _

“Only his father was supposed to come and save him! You shouldn’t have gotten mixed up in all of this!”

“You’re  _ insane!! _ ”

“This isn’t insanity!! It’s for love...what’s real love, if it isn’t sacrifice?!” He kept trying to push her in the well, and he felt her begin to lose her strength, but then he felt someone charge at him so violently that he was forced to let go of Jodie and landed on the floor next to Aiden.

But Jodie didn’t have the time to see whoever had managed to push Shelby away as she lost her balance and fell in the well, hitting the metal railings at the same time, as it closed again on her, as she took Shaun’s place in the rainwater, and with little to no strength left, began to sink…

“Norman!” Aiden finally exclaimed as the latter rose up to point his gun at Shelby who had already ran away far enough to get out of his reach

“Bastard...he’s not gonna get away that easily…” He put his gun back as he looked at Aiden Holmes “What happened to you?! Is Shaun Mars safe?!”

“He is…” Ethan whispered, still in shock next to Madison’s body “I saved him…”

Norman looked at him with a small relieved smile, until he noticed Jodie was nowhere to be seen, his eyes widened in panic

“Where’s Jodie?!”

“She-She’s there! She fell in the well!” Aiden managed to say between two grunts of pain as he held his legs, the same healing green light that both Ethan and Jodie had used earlier glowing from his hands “Get her out of there Norman! I can’t move right now!”

He didn’t need anything more as he ran to the well, where, looking more closely he began to see Jodie shaking as she was sinking in the water

“Holy Christ!” Norman yelled as he began to try and lift the metal railings…

Jodie had stopped shaking as visions began to flash through her mind, she was back there, on the other side…

**_Blue surrounded her as she saw a familiar face smiling at her_ **

**_“Nathan…” She smiled slightly with tears in her eyes “What-...Am I dead?” He didn’t say anything as he just smiled at her_ **

**_“I missed you Jodie”_ **

The metal grate had fallen heavily, stucking itself in a small hole in the ground, and Norman saw Jodie’s unconscious body floating back to the surface, right below the railings “Jodie! Hang on!! I’ll get you out of there!!” He began to shake the railings frantically, groaning in the process “I’m not letting you die in there!  _ I’m not giving up on you!!” _

Aiden had finally managed to heal his wound and breathed a sigh of slight relief, before he ran back to help Norman, and as soon as he noticed his sister floating, her eyes closed, he panicked and the gate flew open violently as Aiden was shaking in fear

“J-Jodie” He muttered in panic “Jodie! No, no no!” while Norman was already pulling her up and laying her on the ground

_ “ **So did I…” She looked around “Did I die Nathan?** _

**_“I-I’m not sure yet” He slightly chuckled “Listen Jodie there’s something-” Nathan Dawkins, the man who had been like a father to her along with Cole Freeman, was interrupted by Jodie running to him and hugging him, he hesitated for a moment, what he had to tell her was important, but he still hugged her back, just for a moment, he wanted to reunite with her…_ **

Norman put a hand on her neck, checking for a pulse, a sign of her breathing, his voice rose in panic

“Oh shit! She’s not breathing! She’s not breathing!!”

“No! Please Jodie! No!” Aiden was already beginning to sob, he turned toward Ethan who had finally left his spot next to Madison as he saw all the panic and commotion about his friend “Please call an ambulance!” Aiden half yelled at him before looking back at Jodie, on whom Norman had already begun to press his hands against her, just like Ethan had done with Shaun earlier, “Jodie! Fuck!”

“Come on breathe!  _ Breathe! _ ” Norman was exclaiming frantically, his voice higher than usual “Jodie please…” Some tears were making their way to the usually almost stone-cold agent.

**_“Jodie...First, I want you to know, I’m proud of you, of what you’ve done, of who’ve you become, and of Aiden as well” He chuckled, Jodie smiled “But there’s something I need to tell you-” They both looked up as the blue light surrounding them was beginning to fade, the meaning of it dawned on Dawkins…_ **

Norman had kept pressing on Jodie’s chest and lowering his head, opening Jodie’s mouth to give her air through his own, Aiden would have usually smirked at this “indirect kiss” but he was too afraid of losing his sister for now. Despite Norman’s CPR, Jodie Holmes was still not regaining consciousness.

“Please...please not you…” Norman Jayden’s voice finally broke as he pressed one last time on her chest before he let his hands fall next to her, one of them holding her cheek “I can’t lose you Jodie...I can’t lose you…” That was the first time Aiden heard the agent, his friend, cry, as he lowered his head to Jodie giving her forehead a kiss “I-I love you…” Norman kept weeping holding one of her hand as Aiden took her other hand, sobbing as well

_ “ **What’s happening Nathan?”** _

**_He knew he needed to tell her, but he also knew he did not have the time, she would have to discover it on her own again, he closed his eyes and sighed before looking at her one last time_ **

**_“It’s not your time yet, Jodie” He smiled as he faded into blue lights, Jodie yelled for him before she felt herself being pulled away from this ethereal place…_ **

She coughed as she began to wake up, some water getting away from her mouth as Norman rose his head up in relief and sighed in relief

“Oh god-you’re okay Jodie!” He helped her sit up as she kept coughing a little, she had luckily not swallowed as much water as Shaun must have had.

“Jodie!” Aiden hugged her tightly,  _ too  _ tightly as she slightly pushed him away “Shit, sorry...I-I thought you were dead!”

“Yeah...I thought I was too-” She finally noticed the other person who was holding her:

_ Norman Jayden _

“N-Norman?” She half exclaimed as she noticed his eyes were still slightly filled with fear 

“You’re safe now...you’re safe…” Norman sighed in relief, more to himself than her, but he still eventually gave her a warm grin “You scared the shit out of me”

She chuckled slightly

“It’s one of my specialties,” she smirked “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to be the one saving you for once” Norman chuckled, but his chuckle turned into a gasp as Jodie tugged him into a tight embrace

“I missed you Norman…” She spoke, with such warmth and sincerity that it almost made the agent tear up as he embraced her as well

“I missed you too, you have no idea how much…” He eventually slightly pulled away from the embrace to look into her eyes “Jodie I lo-” She quickly pushed his head down as she made him dodge a bullet, Shelby hadn’t said his last word.

“I can’t leave Shaun here! We have to leave now!”

“You can’t! That idiot Blake followed me! There are almost all of the cops and SWAT members of the city waiting for you outside!” Norman rose up, helping Jodie rise as well “We have to catch this bastard before we go anywhere”

“I’m on it” Jodie stated

“Jodie you’re not-”

“I’ll be okay!”

“If you think you’re going there alone, you’re fucking wrong sis” Aiden began as he rose up next to her

“What about your leg?”

“What about you almost drowning?”

Jodie rolled her eyes as she immediately began to run when and where she caught a glance of Shelby, she climbed the up the ladder quickly, while Aiden still had trouble with his leg, Norman wanted to follow them, but he decided to escort both Ethan and Shaun, as he saw how afraid the child was, despite being held in his father’s arms….

* * *

As Jodie made her way up on the roof, she was met face to face with Scott Shelby who immediately began to shoot at her, both her and Aiden skillfully dodged the bullets and immediately grabbed each other’s arms, forming their “shield” until Scott ran out of ammunition, in frustration he threw his gun away and began to run away from them again, jumping from the platform to the twins’ surprise, however they noticed he had landed on one of the dock’s carrier. Jodie and Aiden both jumped, grabbing the other’s arm, hoping their gifts would help, but the chain of events from earlier had greatly weakened them, and they landed, with Jodie breaking her leg and Aiden grunting in pain.

“You okay?” 

“Shut up! We’ve gotta catch him!” Jodie yelled as she rose back up immediately, jumping down from the carrier as she began to search for Shelby in one direction, Aiden in the other.

As soon as Norman noticed Blake had ordered his men to lower their guns, seeing him standing near Ethan Mars, and Ethan holding Shaun in his arms, he gave a quick nod to Ethan, gesturing to him he could walk a free man now…

But Norman on the other hand, looked back, he had one last thing to do here...

* * *

In this maze of yellow, green and red carrier boxes, the twins eventually lost each other, and Jodie hesitated to call Aiden, but was afraid Scott Shelby would find her, so she kept running, looking for him as she held her leg in pain, she eventually reached a ladder that seemed to lead to a “safe place” to hide, she couldn’t see Shelby, but she still tried, to climb up the ladder until she felt two arms trying to forcefully pull her away from it. She gasped in fear as Scott Shelby made her fall on the floor, but she kicked him with her “still working” leg, so he would lose his balance too, she then resumed her climbing on the ladder, hoping to lure him there so she could trap him.

However climbing a ladder with her weakened state and a broken leg was harder than she had anticipated, thankfully for her, Shelby seemed weaker as well, whether it was from her kick or from something else she didn’t know and she didn’t care, he was slow enough for her to climb up all the way to another platform and ran to what seemed to be a small glass room that controlled a crane, she ran inside and closed the door behind her, looking for something inside she could use to fight Shelby.

But she had underestimated the killer again as she heard glass breaking behind her, she immediately kneeled on the floor, grunting at the pain in her leg, but avoiding any cuts from the glass, she looked behind her too see Scott’s bleeding arm pulling away from the glass as he knelt down to grab a metal pole, Jodie gasped as she saw him trying to impale her, and in this small space, she couldn’t move nor dodge it easily. Jodie eventually managed to grab the pole before it reached her flesh, and growled as she tried to push it away, and to impale the man before her.

“No more hide and seek”

“Who’s hiding, dickhead?”

At this Shelby lost his temper and violently pulled the pole, Jodie with it as she gasped and landed against the metal railings of the platform. In her surprise, she hadn’t noticed Shelby kicking her again and sending her over on a conveyor belt. She eventually managed to get back up, while Scott got on the conveyor belt, still taking the metal pole with him, determined to kill this woman who had dared to try and  _ tarnish John’s soul _ . He kept trying to stab her, impale her, hit her with this pole, anything that would either make her bleed to death, or make her fall to her death,  _ anything  _ that would  _ kill her _ _. _

As Jodie kept dodging every hit Scott was attempting, she eventually lost her balance as her broken leg couldn’t support her anymore, she saw her death coming as Scott was about to choke her with the metal bar…

But a gunshot was heard.

Scott opened his eyes wide as he felt the bullet inside of his body, his arms let go of the pole as he turned around to face his killer, hoping for it to be Ethan Mars.

But to his disappointment, it was Norman Jayden, who shot again, in anger, as he noticed Jodie’s state.

The two men exchanged a look of hatred, before Scott Shelby looked at his bleeding wound, he looked down and saw where he would die:

A dry well, full of rainwater, like John…

And with this thought, he let himself fall...

And the Origami Killer was no more...

Norman put his gun back in his pocket as he made his way to Jodie, kneeling beside her with his usual now worried eyes, but they softened when he noticed her hand glowing lightly on her leg, he still didn’t know the full extent of her “gift” or of what she knew and he did not.

But that didn’t matter, the killer was gone, she would now have the time to explain it all to him, if she wanted. He gave her a small smile as she finally looked up at him, small tears of relief in her eyes, as they embraced each other tightly once more

“It’s over Jodie...it’s finally over”

Jodie Holmes clung to both him and the hope that he was right...

* * *

They had to wait until those idiotic journalists would leave, they found it disgusting how the loved ones weren’t allowed to commemorate her first, and in peace.

“Journalist Madison Paige was laid in Charity Cross cemetery today. Her heroic death while investigating the disappearance of Shaun Mars has made a lasting on the whole country” Aiden Holmes, Jodie Holmes, Norman Jayden, and Ethan Mars had begun to approach, despite the blonde journalist who was still talking in front of her cameraman “Colleagues from the press are united in paying tribute to this courageous journalist who sacrificed her life in search for truth.”

It was only half-truth, the photos she had taken of Shelby’s apartment had indeed revealed the true identity of the killer, Carter Blake and Leighton Perry had been obligated to offer a public apology earlier in the day during a press conference to Ethan Mars, Jodie and Aiden Holmes. But Madison’s death hadn’t been a sacrifice.

It had been a murder, another murder Jodie could have maybe prevented.

“I’m Britney Sanders for ICN.” The journalist finally concluded

“Okay Britney, it’s a wrap” her cameraman laid his camera down as he threw a glance at the small group, all wearing black, Jodie carrying a white rose in her hand.

“Great! Let’s get outta here!” The journalist said, no empathy present in her voice at all, Jodie glared at her “All this hokey claptrap’s made me hungry!” She promptly left on those words, not caring at all about the “courageous journalist” she had “paid tribute” to.

But the small group didn’t care, they finally got near her grave.

“ _ Madison Paige- May 1984 - October 2013” _

Someone began to talk about Madison, about her accomplishments, Aiden and Jodie recognized that voice to be the one of “Sam” , Madison’s informer, co-worker, and  _ friend _ , as he was talking with a trembling voice and tears leaking from his eyes. Ethan hadn’t brought Shaun with him, as he was taken to the hospital as soon as they left the docks, to make sure he would be fine after those five days of horror he endured, his mother, Grace was staying there, after she had apologized to Ethan, but her apology had barely been heard, Ethan’s thoughts were with Madison now.

And they still were as he looked down at her grave, and thought of the future they could have had…

One petal of Jodie’s rose seemed to have floated away with the wind to land on Ethan’s shoulder, at first both of them figured it was just the wind, but then, had a small thought that perhaps, Madison’s spirit was watching over them, right at this moment…

Nevertheless, Ethan took the petal, and held it in his hand.

Jodie knelt down to lay the white rose she had brought with her as the man kept talking, out of all the people that had come to pay a genuine tribute to her, she was the one who, beside Ethan, in his own detached usual way, and Sam, seemed the more affected by what had happened. She rose back up, wiping some tears off her face, Norman noticing this, took a hold of her shoulder as she leaned her head against his…

All kept looking at Madison Paige’s resting place, until Sam finished his eulogy…

Ethan had left without saying anything to anyone, something that wasn’t surprising, in the little time Aiden and Jodie had spent with him, they realized he wasn’t exactly the talkative kind, but Aiden had still insisted on accompanying him at least to the exit of the cemetery, Ethan only nodded as Aiden placed a hand on his back. Aiden quickly looked back behind him, noticing his sister hadn’t moved, him and Norman exchanged a look, and Aiden gave him a slight smile, silently saying he trusted him to be there for his sister…

On their way to the exit, Ethan and Aiden heard a feminine voice yelling at one grave, they both raised their heads up as they saw a woman wearing a black coat matching her long hair that was covering her face. The only sentences they heard from the woman were

“I feel nothing but contempt for you...Nothing but contempt!!” She finished by spitting on someone’s grave before she left, striding away, wiping some tears. The two men threw a glance at whose grave was reserved such a treatment

“ _ Scott Shelby - February 1967 - October 2013” _

“That psycho doesn’t even deserve to have a grave, let alone in the same place where-” Aiden cut himself off as he noticed Ethan’s sad gaze “...Sorry…”

“...It’s fine” Those were his first words since they had come in the cemetery “...Thank you Aiden, you and your sister Jodie... You’ve really helped me, I’ll never forget that”

Aiden gave him a small smile

“It was nothing, now come on mate, how about we go see Shaun?” 

Ethan tried a small smile as he gave one last look at the petal, before putting it in his pocket, as he and Aiden walked away…

Jodie kept staring at the grave, she had tried to keep a strong face during all the “ceremony” but everything that had happened was starting to weigh too much on her, Norman approached her again and hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder. He wasn’t going to ask if she was okay because he already knew the answer just by looking at her…

“Is there anything I can do to help?” She finally moved her eyes towards him, and remembered Madison’s words

_ “...I know right now...Everything right now is a mess, this whole situation is a mess, but it will be over soon. It will be over soon and we will all be able to move forward from this…And you'll be able to reunite with him” _

“Just stay with me…” Jodie answered with a small voice, clearly on the verge of tears, at this Norman began to hold her, she held him back

“Jodie it’s okay...we’re alone...you can let go now…I’m not going anywhere” He hesitantly gave her a small kiss on her head, and she finally let herself cry as she tightened her hold on Norman.

“It’s all my fault…” Jodie whispered “I’m a living fucking curse!”

“None of this is your fault Jodie…All of this, everything that happened, was because of this madman, Shelby” Norman put a hand on her cheek “And you can’t be a curse, because you’ve been nothing but a blessing in my life” He wiped her tears as she was looking straight into his eyes now, still quietly weeping, not replying anything… 

“Is there anything I can do that will convince you, once and for all?” Norman asked, almost desperate to make her see herself like he saw her:  _ extraordinary _ . However, he had almost expected anything but the answer she finally gave him:

“Maybe you could just kiss me…”

Norman Jayden blinked quickly in surprise, while Jodie Holmes kept her eyes on his, she had never been more sure of something before in her life:  _ Norman was the only person she had pictured a future with _

_ And she wanted that future _

However, seeing his reaction, she thought for a moment, maybe he didn’t want it, she was about to lower her eyes, before she felt Norman’s hands again lifting her head as he leaned down to finally kiss her.

Despite the setting they were in, Jodie couldn’t help but smile in the kiss, as her doubts had evaporated, while Norman pulled her closer, deepening their long awaited kiss and Jodie buried her hands in his hair, while the wind made some red leaves fly around them as the rain was finally beginning to stop…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soon the end!   
> It's the only chapter featuring Lauren Winter, sorry about that, but since I focused on Norman and Jodie's POV, Lauren was never in their story...


	12. After the rain

The sun had finally come back as the rain and clouds of a Philadelphia fall began to dissipate, almost as if the killer’s presence had been the cause of all this grey atmosphere that had invaded the city for a while. But now, some colors were back, the red leaves shone through the sunlight and created lovely shaped shadows in the room as Shaun slowly woke up from his hospital bed. The medics had thought it best to keep him here for some time, with all the days he spent trapped into the docks, with nothing to eat,only rainwater to drink, and having to constantly swim to not fall into the bottom of the well… 

And not to mention the fact that the child psychiatrist from the hospital had insisted on seeing Shaun for at least two months.

But none of this mattered anymore when the boy saw his father sat in an armchair, right next to his bed, smiling fondly, and the taller man who had helped him, Aiden Holmes, if he remembered correctly, was leaning in the doorway, giving him a grin.

“Dad!” Shaun sat up in his bed as Ethan came closer to hug him.

“Hey Shaun” Ethan was still happily smiling at his son as he slowly pulled away from him, still holding his hands

“Hey kiddo” Aiden waved smirking from where he was leaning

“Hi Aiden!” Shaun exclaimed happily, he knew people had helped his Dad to find and save him, and this was enough for him to try and befriend them. He felt a bit sad when he thought about the woman, Madison, his father had kissed, she had seemed nice, she hadn’t deserved what happened to her.

But neither had he deserved what happened to him during those five days after all…The child pushed those dark thoughts away, as he smiled again at his father, who now had his phone in his hands, showing pictures of the interior of an apartment. Shaun exclaimed a quick “wow” as he got closer to look at the pictures

“What’s that?!” He asked, excitement in his voice

“Let’s just say a friend of a friend let me jump in line, if we like it, it’s ours” Ethan smiled at his son as he kept swiping on his phone, showing the different pictures of the rooms and of the apartment.

“So is this where we're gonna live now?” Shaun eventually looked up from the pictures at his father

“Only if you really really want to” Ethan half-chuckled, while Aiden kept smiling at the whole scene, he had rarely witnessed any sweet moments between a parent and a child…

His mind began to drift to Cole Freeman, wondering where he was now...And how he could react to his new “condition”.

“It doesn’t matter where we live, as long as we’re together” Shaun said more quietly this time, Ethan put both of his hands on his son’s shoulders

“I will never let anyone or anything separate us again” He hugged him then chuckled “We’re stuck with each other kiddo” Shaun laughed at this, Ethan joined in the laughter “Like glue” The two of them hugged each other while still laughing, both of them realizing that now, the killer was gone, it was just them, and their new “friends”, they could finally move forward, now that it was all over…

Aiden still smiled fondly at the scene before him, before looking at a clock that stood on the wall before him, noticing the time.

“Fuck…” He cursed, which made Shaun gasp and Ethan give him a glare, “S-Sorry it’s just that me, Jodie and Norman need to attend a press conference in half an hour” He began to stammer “Which means I need to go” He gave them a small smile, which Shaun reciprocated with a big grin

“You’ll come visit us again when we’ll be in our new home?” The child asked

“If you want” Aiden chuckled, a bit surprised at how attached Shaun seemed to him already “And if your dad agrees”

“You’re all welcome, anytime” Ethan softly smiled, Aiden gave him one as well before he began his way out of the room, doing a quick wave, leaving the father and his son talking about their future…

* * *

Aiden was happy to  _ finally  _ have his own phone, and happy to be able to contact Jodie on her own phone as well.

When she would answer that is! They had to be at a press conference in half an hour and he had already called her five times as he was making his way to the hotel they were still staying in.

“Jodie come on…” He kept hearing the dial ring, but then, like the other fives times, only got her voicemail “ANSWER YOU TWAT!” he screamed so loud that some passerby widened their eyes at him, but he didn’t pay attention to them as he hung up, giving up on calling Jodie and instead trying to call Norman instead, either he was with her, probably still trying to awkwardly flirt with her, or he was alone already at the press conference, either way, it was worth a shot as he began to dial the number…

The phone was buzzing on the FBI profiler’s bedside table, the latter grumbled as he took it in his hand...only to hang up as he put it back on the table, not caring about whatever call that was. He turned around, facing the other side of the bed he was laying in…

“What was it?” Jodie’s muffled voice rose from the pillows, as she still held her eyes close with a small frown, Norman just carefully pulled her closer to him as he began to lay kisses on her bare shoulders and neck

“Nothing more important than this moment” he slightly smirked as he saw and felt her begin to chuckle and turning around, the bed sheets still clinging slightly to her and her hair slightly muffled from their earlier tryst, Jodie Holmes slowly opened her deep brown eyes in which Norman could stare for days and smiled lovingly up at him

“Come here” Jodie muttered as she put a finger on her lover’s chin and leaned closer to kiss him softly at first, before she began to bury her hands in his hair, trying to pull him closer, which he eagerly did as they both exchanged a small complicit laugh.

But Jodie’s phone began to ring again, which made her groan as she took it quickly, noticing the contact name:  _ Aiden _ . She grumbled and threw the phone away, ignoring the call.

“You didn’t tell your brother you were spending the night here did you?” Norman gave her playful frown

“Wellll for my defense I had planned to call him but  _ someone _ ” She giggled at his gasp when she pushed him on his back and got on top of him “Someone distracted me” she leaned down to kiss and nibble at his neck as Norman did a small chuckled, holding her closer, but

“Maybe we should call him back” The profiler noted, which made Jodie look up at him “If he’s so insistent, it must be important...Or he could be worried about you” He passed his hand in her hair as he was about to take his phone, but Jodie caught his arm and pinned it against the mattress, smirking mischievously, Norman once again widened his eyes a little and flushed a bit.

“It can wait, don’t you think?” Jodie still had her playful glimmer in her eyes, which was one of the rare things that would distract Norman Jayden from his job, he smiled at her as he let go of his phone, instead moving his arm down his lover’s back, who shivered slightly, he chuckled at this, and with a small frown she shut him up with another burning kiss, as they both held each other close…

Eventually Norman pulled away from the kiss to take another look at this extraordinary woman who was with him, now, in  _ his life _ .

“I love you Jodie Holmes” He caressed her cheek as he gave her a loving smile, which she gave back as she leaned closer to his face, her long brown hair almost tickling his cheeks 

“And I love you Norman Jayden” she kept his gaze for a moment before kissing him again, both of them holding and moving against each other once more…

In the heat of the moment, neither of them had heard the door open

“Hey Norman, you’ve seen my sister-OH MY FUCKING GOD!!” Aiden screamed so loudly that some of the hotel clients had probably heard.

“AIDEN!” Jodie quickly covered herself with the bed sheet as she glared at her twin brother “CAN’T YOU FUCKING KNOCK YOU SHITHEAD?!” Norman was just sitting still, awkwardly scratching behind his head, this wasn’t exactly how he nor Jodie had planned to announce to Aiden that they were now in a relationship…

““MY EYES!! THEY BURN!!" The twin brother was still yelling while holding his eyes closed dramatically

"Oh shut it, you fucking diva!" Jodie sneered as she once again made sure she was covered enough to look decent.

Aiden eventually and hesitantly opened one eye, and he still couldn't believe what he was seeing: Jayden and his sister,  _ in bed... _

He was both happy as he had hoped for a while now that the two of them would finally act on their feelings, obvious to everyone but the two of them, now that the Origami Killer's murder spree was over. But he still wished he hadn't learned about it  _ that way. _

"Diva?! Try to catch your twin in the middle of fucking foreplay, then we'll talk!"

Norman was still sitting awkwardly, his head had gone a bit red as he eventually asked his friend

"Was there something you needed Aiden?... " 

Aiden just opened his eyes wider, the agent was usually way more professional than that, Aiden wasn't used to being the  _ reasonable guy _ .

"Uhm press conference?! In twenty minutes?! Remember?!"

"Oh  _ shit! _ " Jodie exclaimed to her brother's laughter, she just glared at him "Fine, we're coming just let us get dressed first?" She gestured to the door, silently asking him to close it again.

"Hurry the fuck up" Aiden chuckled as he began to close the door "Really happy about you two by the way" 

This comment had made both Norman and Jodie freeze while they were putting some clothes back on...

The two slowly turned their head toward each other, Norman Jayden still being his rather quiet and awkward self as he looked shyly away from Jodie, the latter only did a small laugh, a grin on her face as she made her way to enclose her arms around Norman's waist. He would have usually jumped in surprise, but he just smiled and looked at her, again realizing that this time, she was here, she wasn't a part of his job, she wasn't part of this virtual refuge he had created in the ARI...

_ She was real... _

"What's making my profiler so thoughtful now?" Jodie chuckled, laying her chin on his shoulder, holding herself as close as she could to him, he wasn't just someone she could picture a future with

_ He was her present, and she refused to even try to picture without him by her side _

"Us" Jodie frowned a little at his reply before seeing him turn his head to face her, a grin on his face as he caressed her cheek "What we have...it's real"

Jodie Holmes barely bothered with words as she just smiled and caressed Norman Jayden's scarred cheek, only answering two words

"I know" but those two words were enough for both of them.

* * *

"Our guests today are on every newspapers' covers this week" Norman was sitting the closest to the press conference's manager, much to his dismay as he hated being in the spotlight, but Jodie and Aiden's presences beside him helped, even if the two weren't entirely comfortable either, Jodie just kept trying on smiling politely even though the man, who spoke more like a talk show host she thought, creeped her out and reminded her of the disgusting journalists she had encountered at Madison's funeral...

Aiden on the other hand kept looking at every camera, not used at all to this, the cameras and the lights reminded him of his time at the DPA, well...the time Jodie had been there, the cameras the lights...He was still tempted to destroy or break them like he used to, but Jodie kept giving him small glares, silently telling him to not even think about it. 

"All three have been hailed by the whole nation as new heroes of our times. Astonishingly, they almost single-handedly ended the sinister series of killings by the man known as the Origami Killer, and saved the life of young Shaun Mars. Their determination, courage and intelligence have won our admiration. Ladies and gentlemen, Norman Jayden, Jodie Holmes and Aiden Holmes" The man turned to them as the flashes from the journalists cameras kept coming, the three looked away from the man to look at the crowd who were all yelling and throwing questions from everywhere

"Guys, we can't make a thing you say try to chill a little" Aiden awkwardly laughed, which to his (and the other two with him) surprise made some journalists laugh.

"Mister Jayden please one question!" Someone asked

"Yes?" Norman professionally gestured the person to speak

"You were supposed to only collaborate with Philadelphia's police forces, how did the Holmes twins arrive into the puzzle?"

"Luck" Aiden laughed, Jodie chuckled as well while Norman just smiled a little embarrassed at the question, thankfully the journalists all seemed professionals and rather kind unlike what they had witnessed at the funeral, as they laughed with Aiden.

"Well...my friend is partly right" Norman chuckled, which made Jodie smile at his growing confidence "I encountered Miss Jodie Holmes at the precinct as I was about to leave the night Shaun Mars disappeared and she...knew things that proved to be a very precious help" He gave her a fond smile

"What kind of things?"

"That's confidential territory" Jodie chuckled 

"Miss Holmes! You and your brother had both been accused of being part of those murders by the Philadelphia's police department, what were your thoughts on this?"

"That the Philadelphia's police really needed a change of direction" She laughed again, laughing off those bad memories, it was like Madison had said...it was a passing nightmare now...

"All of the investigation team immediately focused their efforts on you two and Ethan Mars-"

"Sorry to interrupt, but I want to clear something up, about Ethan Mars, we shouldn't be the ones hailed as heroes at least to me..." Jodie began "This man, this father did everything he could just to save his son, and he succeeded, if we hadn't been there...I think he would still have managed to save him" She lowered her eyes "And I'd also like to say a word about Madison Paige, she helped me and my brother find the psychopath that was Scott Shelby when the police force couldn't help us anymore..."

"A lot of us knew her, and believe me, we sincerely miss her" a male voice spoke up that Jodie recognised as Sam, Madison's friend 

"She indeed must have been a great help for you and your brother as you were both tracked by every law enforcement member...except one. From my sources, Norman Jayden fought until the end to prove your innocence...Why such determination?"

Norman slightly opened his mouth in surprise, unsure what to say, he and Jodie exchanged a look, while Aiden just began to speak, as he smiled

"I think this will answer your question..." He gave his sister a questioning look, she nodded slowly, allowing him to reveal this...detail if he wanted, as she grew curious at what he would say 

"I know this woman more than anyone else knows her, she's my twin sister, and I know that before Philadelphia...we were both lost. I haven't known Norman for a long while but I think that was the case for him too..."

Norman just frowned and slightly nodded, as curious as Jodie. "We were all lost, wandering around without getting anywhere. But Jodie wanted more than this" He looked at Norman "They both wanted more than this" The two just kept staring at Aiden, as he seemed to have understood things happening around him more than they would have thought, Jodie wasn't as surprised as her boyfriend however, Aiden was her twin, and as she had said herself, a part of her.

"And...as crazy as this may sound" He chuckled slightly giving a look at the other two "I think the Origami Killer did one good thing, he reunited two lost souls who needed a purpose..." The three of them exchanged a smile, before Jodie and Norman turned their gazes to each other.

"Wait" A feminine voice rose up "Are you...are you implying that your sister Jodie Holmes and Agent Norman Jayden....are something more than co-workers?"

Aiden just smirked "Now now, that's personal territory there"

The questions kept flowing, mostly about the investigation, a couple about Jodie's past that she kept vague, a couple too personal that they all suspected came from some gossip magazine's journalists...

And as all those echoes around her flowed, Jodie looked at her brother, Aiden, alive, sitting beside her, smiling at the crowd then at her, enjoying life more than ever, and then at Norman Jayden, the other lost soul she had needed to find, he gave her a loving smile which she gave back...

A common saying came to her mind

_ "After the rain, the sun always comes out" _

* * *

Aiden had finished getting ready for bed, the day had been long and he was too exhausted to wait for his hair to dry, as he was about to go to bed however, he noticed his sister's absence in the room but a note on her bedside table. Her brother smirked as he didn't even need to read the note to know where she was or what it said, he slipped into his bed and turned off the light, the funeral, the hospital visits and the press conferences had tired everyone, so as soon as he closed his eyes he drifted off to sleep...

Jodie herself had quickly fallen asleep as well, Norman giving her shoulder one last kiss as he joined her in bed, however he noticed her body seemed...tense. He hesitated to wake her up before she turned around, facing him with a peaceful face, reassured, he smiled as he closed his eyes, holding her hand that was resting on the pillow...

Not noticing Jodie's expression shifting as he fell asleep.

Jodie turned around and kept groaning for a while as she felt both cold and hot, paradoxically at the same time, she felt a violent wind pass through her hair and almost felt like it pushed against her face. She groaned, figuring Norman probably had forgotten to close the window but when she opened her eye, what she saw was nothing like her hotel room.

_ The gifted woman had seen so many things in her life already, it was difficult to scare, surprise or confuse her now, but the place she was in right now, was nothing like she had ever seen: everything seemed destroyed, as if a cataclysmic war had happened. She slowly rose up after her gasp of surprise, not from her bed but from what she assumed was the only remains of what once was a house. She looked around, hearing growls nearby as she began to walk and explore the place she was in, which in a strange way seemed familiar despite the abandoned state of the houses, cars and buildings around her, all crumbling and burning, just like the sky itself... _

_ She kept walking and observing, the wind still violently blowing against her face, making her own long flowing hair sometimes whip her face, however, she stopped all movements as she heard a growl coming from behind a car, she slowly turned her eyes there and swore she briefly saw three ghostly shades run away, one of them screaming like a child as it was grasping the feminine shade's hand, herself holding the other shade's hand. _

_**"Suuuucculent** **!!"** _

_ The almost robotic voice made Jodie jump as she quickly turned to see a man, half of the skin on his cheek was missing, but his inside wasn't of normal red flesh, but blue... _

_ His eyes however, she knew those kinds of eyes too well, they were pure white, no irises nor pupils... _

_ Whoever or whatever this man was, he was possessed by an entity. _

_**"Looks like we found our new meeeaaal!!!"** The man yelled as he faded, leaving place to the entity itself as it screamed at Jodie who did not waste any time and ran away as she heard someone else... _

_ "Jodie!!" Some relief flooded into her as her brother ran to her _

_ "Aiden, just run!!" He frowned before seeing the entity which was way bigger that what they usually were _

_ "Oh fuck!" He strode, joining his sister as they began to hear more and more growls coming from almost everywhere around them... _

_ Jodie dared to take a look behind her, and noticed those weren't the usual entities, their eyes were even redder and they seemed to slowly form into solid shapes, in fear she kept running before being stopped by Aiden. _

_ "Aiden what the fuck-" She stopped mid-sentence as she saw why her brother had suddenly stopped, a woman with very short and dark blonde hair, dressed in blue winter clothes was standing on the edge of a broken bridge, she wasn't panicked she looked serene, almost like she knew there was no other way out... _

_ "Who are you?" Aiden asked calmly, then the woman turned her head, looking at the twins with a smile, her grayish, shining almost unnaturally eyes felt to them as if they were staring directly into their souls. Her smile stayed on Aiden for a moment as he just stood almost transfixed, he didn't move his eyes from her as she turned her gaze to his sister, her smile almost disappearing... _

_**"Jodie..."** She only said with a soft voice, Jodie frowned, about to ask her if she knew her, but the woman turned her head away from them as she was now staring at below the edge, tears making her way to her face as she spread her arms, letting herself fall off the edge _

_ "NO!!" Jodie yelled as she uselessly ran after her and fell too, Aiden screamed, while Jodie could see the.. creatures  approaching him. _

_ Her fall wasn't short like in real life, it felt like everything was in slow motion as she heard distorted and non comprehensive echoes around her, she could recognize some voices but couldn't make out whatever they said... _

_ Until the echoes stopped and she was again face to face with John Sheppard's sobbing face _

_**"It's...It's wasn't enough...It's not over"** His face screamed as he faded, another ghost appearing this time, two hands tightly gripping Jodie's throat _

_**"It may never be over"** Scott Shelby, the now demonic Origami Killer growled at her as the slow motion stopped suddenly and she almost felt the ground... _

Before she woke up, sitting up startled, all sweaty and had almost screamed, which immediately woke Norman beside her...

Aiden woke up the exact same way, panting and gasping as he took a look at his sister's still empty bed. Still out of breath he still left the room in panic, on his way to join his sister...

"Jodie?!" She couldn't speak, Norman tried to put a hand on her shoulder but she flinched away, looking at him with panicked eyes, still unsure if she was awake. "Jodie, calm down it's me..." He said quietly slowly and carefully, approaching her, she finally lowered her eyes and let him hold her shoulders, as she then busted into tears, Norman carefully began to hold her, letting her cry on his shoulder.

"Jodie what's wrong? What happened?" He asked her, easily guessing she had a nightmare. His lover, Jodie Holmes, only looked up at him to whisper

"You were wrong Norman..." She glanced outside as it had begun to rain again " _ It's not over _ ..."

  
  


**To be continued** **_..._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I went there, "to be continued" x)   
> There's again, DBH characters in there, they're easier to recognize this time (I hope...) :3


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